The sale of Wataru Endo from VfB Stuttgart to Liverpool in the summer seemingly came out of nowhere.
With zero links to Endo for most of the summer reported by any major news outlets, Liverpool suddenly signed the Japanese international in a shock move.
The 30-year-old was one of the highest rated defensive midfielders in the Bundesliga last season. Liverpool had to sign a true holding midfielder after the departure of Fabinho to Saudi Arabia.
Stuttgart’s sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth has spoken candidly about the sale of Endo to Liverpool in a recent interview with BILD.
Wohlgemuth confirmed that Stuttgart did not want to sell Endo but that the player pushed for a move to Anfield.
“Wataru is a player that we actually didn’t want to let go,” he said.
“To be honest, we didn’t have Liverpool FC on our list as an interested party. We were informed by the players’ advisors about Liverpool FC’s interest a few hours before the offer was received.
“Wataru himself really wanted to take this step regardless of our offer to extend the contract.
“Because the facts were on the table, we had no choice but to agree with Jörg Schmadtke (Liverpool sporting director) with our revised financial demands. In the end, we came to an agreement relatively quickly in the negotiations.”
Liverpool paid Stuttgart around £16.2 million for Endo. Although the Germans wanted to keep the player, they were in no position to turn down such a fee for a 30-year-old.
