Reports suggest that Liverpool is on the verge of finalizing the signing of Wataru Endo from Stuttgart. The clubs reached an agreement on a deal worth $20 million (£16 million/€19 million).
According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Endo has a schedule for a medical examination on Thursday. That is following his authorization to travel to Merseyside.
Endo, who holds the captaincy for both Stuttgart and the Japanese national team, is a prominent figure in his side’s plans. Considering his fitness, it’s highly likely that he will secure a place in his team’s Asian Cup squad. This could potentially lead to Endo’s absence from Anfield for a significant duration around the beginning of the year. He has earned 50 international caps thus far and was part of Japan’s lineup for three out of four matches during the previous year’s World Cup.
Wataru Endo to miss a significant amount of matches for Liverpool
The upcoming Asian Cup was initially to take place in China during this summer. However, due to the country’s Covid-19 policies, the event had to be relocated.
Subsequently, Qatar received the hosting rights. Thereby, resulting in the tournament being rescheduled to the winter period in order to circumvent extreme temperatures. Thus, mirroring the approach taken for the World Cup.
Endo is likely to be available for Liverpool’s third-round FA Cup fixture for the weekend of January 6. However, if he gets selection for the Asian Cup, he will be unavailable for the Premier League match against Bournemouth on January 13. Additionally, his participation would be invalid for the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg (taking place in the week beginning January 22). That is if Liverpool advances to that stage of the competition.
Should Liverpool secure a second-place finish in its Europa League group, the team will encounter a playoff round against a third-place Champions League team. The first leg of this encounter is on February 15. Expectations are that Endo would have returned by this time. Or at the very least be available for the league match against Brentford on February 17.
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