Wataru Endo, a midfielder for Liverpool, has acknowledged that he feels conflicted about leaving Merseyside for the Asian Cup at a time when he was beginning to blossom.
As a substitute for the injured Alexis Mac Allister, the 30-year-old Japan captain—who joined for £16 million from Stuttgart—started the last six matches, and the consistent playing time helped him settle in after a rough start to English football.
Interestingly, Endo was chosen by Liverpool’s supporters as the men’s player for the month or December.
But before he jets out to Qatar to get ready for the tournament, which starts next Friday, he played in Liverpool’s 4-2 Premier League victory against Newcastle on New Year’s Day. That was his last game for a whole upcoming month.
This game was one of the ones that football fans and bettors had really waited for.
The predictions were shrouded in anticipation as many bettors placed multibets, including this as a savior game.
Even as many punters got to learn the meaning of cut 1 in bet9ja, Liverpool fans were not frustrated by the win that was.
In contrast to Mohamed Salah, who is now representing Egypt at the African Nations Cup, Endo will find that he has been benched upon his return.
This is simply because Mac Allister has been the preferred in the starting lineup for the whole season.
“Of course I want to stay here but as a national team player it is important for me as I am captain. I am now focused on the national team and just doing my best,” said Endo. “I want to have good results at the Asian Cup, but that’ll mean I have to stay longer in Qatar.”
Endo was restricted to starts in the Europa League and the Carabao Cup only due to the length of time it took for him to integrate with the team after his arrival in mid-August.
Because of Mac Allister’s injury and the intense December workload, Jürgen Klopp had little choice but to start him every week, and that decision had a major impact.
“It has been the toughest Christmas and new year in my life but to play football is amazing so I’ve enjoyed it also,” Endo said.
“It’s a very tough schedule but I needed to keep playing. Playing the games is the most important way for me to improve.”
“We have so many injured players. I was thinking, I am a very important player on the pitch so I needed to show why I came here.”
One of the greatest achievements Endo feels that he has is that Liverpool is now on top of the table. “The team played well and I also played better than before and we are now top of the table so I feel I did my job,” Said endo.
He is still getting a grip playing in England but he submits that the coach has high faith in him.