Wataru Endo joined Liverpool one day before their 3-1 victory over Bournemouth.
Jurgen Klopp admitted that the circumstances that Wataru Endo had to make his Liverpool debut were ‘horrible’.
The Reds won the race for their new midfield signing to get international clearance and feature on the bench in yesterday’s clash against AFC Bournemouth. Endo was signed from Stuttgart for £16 million the previous day.
And the Japan international was called into action in the 63rd minute despite Liverpool being 3-1 ahead. Alexis Mac Allister had been given a straight red card five minutes earlier for a foul on the Cherries’ Ryan Christie. With Jurgen Klopp wanting to shore up his engine room, Endo came on for Cody Gakpo.
Given the lack of preparation he had for the clash, Klopp was not surprised that Endo had ‘no clue’ what to do during his cameo. When asked about Endo’s debut, the Liverpool manager said at his post-match press conference: “Horrible [circumstances].
“First game, coming in, and I think we saw Harvey [Elliott] is in a really good moment but Harvey came on as well in this game and was running left and right and then his heart rate was 240 probably and that was pretty much the same for Endo. It was two days he had so no surprise that, [while] he did absolutely alright, he came there [and] had no clue what to do.
“I spoke this morning with him about how with 11 players his position would look, but a 4-4-1 was not involved in our conversation. That’s it now. I don’t think he slept a lot in the last two nights so he came on now and threw everything on the pitch he had and that’s it.”
