Immediately before the start of the new Bundesliga season, VfB Stuttgart is threatened with the loss of its captain: according to a report, Liverpool want to sign Wataru Endo immediately and have even submitted an offer to the Swabians.
On Saturday, VfB Stuttgart will open the 2023/2024 season with a home game against VfL Bochum. Actually, Wataru Endo was supposed to lead the team back onto the field, but it looks like nothing will come of it.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano revealed late Wednesday evening that Liverpool, coached by Jürgen Klopp, want to bring the Japanese to the Mersey.
Allegedly, the Reds have already made an official offer for the 30-year-old, and final negotiations are currently being held between the two clubs. “talkSPORT” even claims that the professional is already on his way to the medical check-up.
According to reports, Endo does not want to miss this unique opportunity to move to one of the biggest clubs on the continent. Liverpool’s new sports director Jörg Schmadtke is said to be one of the masterminds of the proposed deal.
VfB Stuttgart could lose Endo on a free transfer in 2024
Endo’s working paper in Stuttgart expires next summer. If VfB does not want to lose its leading player on a free transfer in 2024, it will probably have to give in to Liverpool’s wooing. It is unclear where the Bundesliga club’s financial pain threshold lies.
In the short term, however, it may not be easy to find an equivalent replacement for the experienced international. In 2019, Endo came to VfB, who had just been relegated at the time, on loan from Belgian first division club VV St. Truiden.
There, the defensive midfielder convinced and was therefore committed a year later. Back in the Bundesliga, he finally advanced to become a top performer in Stuttgart and finally captain in 2021. 99 appearances (12 goals, 11 assists) in the top German division are in his CV.
Liverpool are said to have set their sights on Endo having previously failed in several hoped-for transfers for the switchboard. Ecuadorian Moisés Caicedo, for example, joined Chelsea despite the Reds having already struck a deal with Brighton & Hove Albion.