11 months ago
135 Steve Nicol believes that Liverpool will not win the Premier League or the Champions League if they have Wataru Endo as their starting holding midfielder.
Wataru Endo has proved to be a decent signing for the Reds. There seemed to be few of us who really knew a lot about the Japan international before his £16 million move to Anfield in the summer.
Jurgen Klopp is clearly a massive fan of Endo. However, there is no question that he has been overshadowed by the club’s other signings, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister proving to be particularly impressive.
Steve Nicol says Liverpool need to sign an upgrade on Wataru Endo
And it does appear that the 30-year-old is not a player who can step into Fabinho’s shoes following the Brazilian’s departure.
Certainly, Steve Nicol has suggested to ESPN that Liverpool need to secure an upgrade in that position as soon as possible if they hope to remain at the summit of the Premier League.
“Good signings. The middle of the park was the biggest thing that needed changing. And they’ve managed to do that. I don’t think it’s finished,” he told ESPN.
“I think they absolutely need to sign a defensive midfielder. Endo does a job. But you’re not winning the Premier League or the Champions League with Endo as your defensive midfielder. So, as well as they’ve done so far, I still think they need to, hopefully in January, when the window opens, sign a player on the sort of level in their position that they’ve done with Mac Allister and Szoboszlai.
“And if they do that, then they absolutely, for me, will be 100 percent favourites for the title. I think that’s the only thing that’s missing.”
Reds handed a warning
Unfortunately, Liverpool were given something of a warning about Endo’s limitations in their dramatic win over Crystal Palace last weekend.
Palace ensured that it was a really tough first-half for the former Stuttgart player. They were relentless in closing him down and pressing whenever he got onto the ball.
And while replays ultimately showed that he was fouled, he was poor for the passage of play which resulted in Palace initially being awarded a penalty.
It was certainly no surprise when Klopp took Endo off at half-time against Palace. And although Liverpool do not tend to make rash decisions in the transfer market, you do have to wonder whether that performance may have influenced their plans ahead of the January window.
The post 'You're not winning the Premier League': Pundit says Liverpool won't win title if £16m player starts regularly appeared first on TBR Football.
