After starting the season well down the pecking order, the Japanese midfielder has won the trust and appreciation of manager Arne Slot.
At the start of the season, following a disappointing summer warm-up run under a new manager, Wataru Endo looked to be something of a forgotten man in midfield for the Reds, unfavoured by Arne Slot and unlikely to see the pitch regularly.
Around the middle of the season, though, the Japan international started to push his way into the lineup, at least as an option off the bench to see out close games. And ever since, Slot has rather gone out of his way to sing the player’s praises.
“I appreciate him a lot as a football player but also as a human being,” Slot said after Endo’s latest appearance off the bench to help see out Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Newcastle. “No matter how many minutes the team needs, he always shows up.
“The reason why he always shows up—and what makes him special—is that players in a similar situation like him don’t always find the energy to train well the day after a game when they didn’t have playing time or two days after a game.
“But it doesn’t matter which day of the week it is or if he has played, he always gives his best in training and as a result every time the team needs him he shows up. That’s a big compliment for him that he brings performances in like today.”
With Liverpool now holding an increasingly comfortable 13-point lead in the league with ten to play—though closest chasers Arsenal do have a game in hand—it seems likely that Endo’s chances to play will tick up in the coming weeks and months.
What that might mean for his role in the team longer-term is hard to say, but given where he started the season and the extent to which he since seems to have won over his manager, you wouldn’t want to rule anything out for the grafting midfielder.