Selling Wataru Endo would be a cold, logical decision for Liverpool’s new era – Liverpool FC

While selling Wataru Endo will be far from the top of Liverpool’s agenda, a shift in power this summer makes it more realistic that he would be made available.

It seemed to come out of the blue that Liverpool had turned down a sizeable offer for their No. 3.

Widely reported on Sunday evening – hours after Arne Slot and his players landed in Philadelphia for the second stop of their pre-season tour – Endo has been the subject of a failed bid from Marseille.

The French club offered €14 million (£11.8m), with that rejected, though the rhetoric around the news was far from emphatic from the club’s end.

Merseyside journalists repeated the line that Liverpool were not actively looking to move Endo on, though David Lynch wrote that “a higher offer could tempt the Reds to sell.”

Journalist Fabrizio Romano has since claimed that Marseille’s bid was in fact rejected “weeks ago” which, if true, brings into question why the information leaked when it did.

Marseille have since signed Ismael Kone from Watford and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Tottenham – two players in Endo’s position – and the logical explanation would be that Liverpool could now be looking to drum up wider interest.

Clubs from the Bundesliga have been held up as suitors, with the midfielder having joined Liverpool this time last year from Stuttgart.

Endo’s switch to Anfield was very much out of the left-field; a product of butchered deals for Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, who both opted for Chelsea for a combined £173 million.

Liverpool saw bids accepted for both Caicedo and Lavia, only for the players to reject moves, leaving for a mid-August dash to replace the already departed Fabinho.

Jurgen Klopp and sporting director Jorg Schmadtke landed on Endo, and there is very much a sense that his signing was led by that duo.

“He is a late bloomer, if you like, and usually for us and the way our owners see it, he was already too old when he joined Stuttgart,” Klopp told journalists including the Telegraph‘s Chris Bascombe upon Endo’s unveiling.

“The last week was a tricky one, no doubt about that, but when you have a problem, you can stick to the problem or find a solution.”

The German added that “the owners really want 200 games at 20 years old,” which is “pretty difficult,” having been left to convince Fenway Sports Group that a £16 million deal for a then 30-year-old was a smart decision.

Only now Klopp has gone, Schmadtke has gone, and Liverpool’s entire setup has been revamped in the meantime.

There is no longer a manager in the dugout, instead a head coach, with the onus of decision-making instead on those within the boardroom.

That includes new sporting director Richard Hughes, whose ties with the returning Michael Edwards – now chief executive of football for FSG itself – brought him to the club.

Julian Ward, another former sporting director for Liverpool, is also part of the new setup, though his remit is focused on the planned expansion into a multi-club model.

While the Reds have given little away in terms of their plans for the transfer market so far, it stands to reason that they will act with the same calculated prudence as during Edwards’ previous tenure, only with a different face.

There will be a return to emphasis on data, and in particularly underlying numbers, but also the importance of value.

Assess the contract situation across the Liverpool squad and there’s a clear outlier: Endo is the third-oldest outfield player in the squad, but only six players have longer deals.

As it stands, with Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah into the final year of their existing terms, the Japan captain would go into next season as the oldest outfielder at the club.

Klopp may have been of the opinion that the midfielder could extend his stay at Anfield even beyond that 2027 expiry, the cold business heads in the club’s new setup may not be of the same opinion.

Endo will turn 32 in February and will be 34 by the time his deal is up, and though he produced an excellent debut season at Anfield, logic dictates that his influence will only wane.

It would be wrong to read too much into a rusty performance in the first friendly back for pre-season, but the manner of Endo’s struggle against Real Betis could only enhance that belief for FSG president Mike Gordon, who was in attendance in Pittsburgh.

The insistence that Liverpool are not actively looking to sell Endo is understandable. Why would they? He has proved his worth within the squad and is far from one of the highest earners at the club.

But the timing of those reports and the inference that they could part ways with the player for the right price suggest that this would be their inclination.

Even Klopp would admit that Endo was not a priority signing, with the transfer more of a stopgap, and recouping the £16 million paid to Stuttgart only a year ago would likely be seen as a good deal.

It is roundly accepted that Liverpool’s primary concern in the market remains a top-level No. 6, and that is only magnified by the significance of such a player to Slot’s system.

And though there has been no development when it comes to additions, it stands to reason that Hughes and his recruitment team will be working to make that happen.

Of course, briefing the press that they are open to selling the only specialist in that position would only weaken their hand in talks over a new defensive midfield signing.

But while there will be no rushing Endo out the door, it certainly seems to fit the model that he of all players would be allowed to leave under the right conditions as a new era of savvy business dawns.