Jörg Schmadtke makes ‘surprising move’ as Liverpool bid for 30-year-old Japanese midfielder

Liverpool have reportedly made a surprise offer for Stuttgart midfielder Wataru Endō.

The Reds have reportedly approached the Japan international in search of a new defensive midfielder.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have failed in their bid to bring Moises Caicedo to Anfield. Although Brighton accepted a £110million offer, Caicedo opted for a move to Chelsea instead.

The London side are also likely to sign Romeo Lavia, who Liverpool also had an offer for after Southampton gave the green light.

Now Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano is reporting that Liverpool have their eyes on Endo – with sporting director Jog Schmadtke taking the lead on the transfer. Endo, 30, has spent the last four years at Stuttgart and has scored 15 goals in 133 appearances.

He also helped Japan qualify for the 2022 World Cup Round of 16 in Qatar. Romano wrote on Twitter: “Liverpool make a formal offer to sign Japanese midfielder Wataru Endō on a permanent basis. Negotiations with Stuttgard are ongoing – the player sees this move as the biggest opportunity of his career. Surprising move by the Liverpool manager Schmadtke”.

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Normally, Liverpool’s transfer business is smooth, since Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia chose Chelsea over Liverpool, the pressure is REALLY on Liverpool to resolve the “mess” and provide Klopp with a midfielder.

The decision by Moises Caicedo to join Chelsea rather than Liverpool was a setback.

Romeo Lavia, another midfield target, seems to be on a similar path.

Success in the transfer market has been one of the defining characteristics of Liverpool under John W Henry.

Liverpool has experienced more wins than losses since then after learning from early errors like Mario Balotelli.

Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Alisson were wise acquisitions that helped Jurgen Klopp assemble a squad capable of dominating every major competition.

However, after a disastrous week for Liverpool’s transfer managers, that carefully built reputation is in jeopardy of collapsing.

It would be extremely embarrassing if they lost out on their next target, Romeo Lavia, in the same way they lost Moises Caicedo to Chelsea.

Klopp is always eager to present a unified front at Anfield, but he is aware that whether or not his team mounts a title challenge this season may depend on whether or not they can find a top-tier holding midfielder to sign.

Normally sympathetic to Liverpool’s position, club legend Jamie Carragher hasn’t held back at seeing his team outperformed by Chelsea’s brash owner Todd Boehly.

He calls how things have been handled at Anfield “an absolute mess and a joke.”.

One might have hoped for a smoother transition after the midfielders Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and James Milner were all lost in a single strike.

Yes, the Argentine World Cup winner was forced into a defensive role in Chelsea’s opening match and wasn’t his usual self. However, Dominik Szoboszlai of Hungary also recently moved from Brighton and joined Alexis Mac Allister.

Liverpool are currently facing some challenges. People are aware of their desperation,’ Carragher continued.

The sequence of events is strange. Jude Bellingham was praised by Klopp in January, but Liverpool decided they couldn’t compete financially in the summer, and the player joined Real Madrid.

Despite this, they suddenly made a British record bid of £111 million for Caicedo at Brighton after pursuing Lavia from Southampton all summer without being able to match the £60 million asking price.

Caicedo had always intended to sign with Chelsea; the club’s director of international talent, Paul Winstanley, previously worked at Brighton and was instrumental in helping Caicedo land his first club in England.

It was a high-risk move that hasn’t yet paid off if Liverpool believed that their intervention would increase the Caicedo price and eliminate Chelsea’s interest in Lavia.

Although Liverpool finally agreed to Southampton’s terms regarding a transfer fee, word has it that Lavia would also prefer to join Chelsea, whose spending ambitions know no bounds.

The youngster might have been troubled by Liverpool suddenly turning their attention to Caicedo, though the London location angle could be one factor.

Whatever occurs after that, it’s not how Liverpool prefers to conduct business.

The Liverpool team’s employees will be highlighted in the background.

Michael Edwards, a renowned sporting director, left in 2022. Julian Ward, who took over for him later that year, made the announcement that he would retire at the conclusion of the 2022–23 campaign.

Billy Hogan, the Chief Executive of the club’s owners FSG, has been under a lot of pressure and responsibility as a result.

The early signings of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai in the window gave the impression that things would continue as before.

Then, Fabinho and Henderson left as a result of the Saudi intervention, leaving a huge gap at the midfield’s base. It hasn’t been filled yet, one week into the season.

Questions will be raised until it is, and it will be difficult to refute Carragher’s claim that the situation is a “mess.”.