Liverpool hit the jackpot on "special" talent worth 500% more than Endo

Supporters might be grumbling about Liverpool‘s transfer business this summer (or lack thereof, to be more precise), but it’s worth remembering that FSG‘s new structure speaks of stability and success.

Michael Edwards, demonstrably, is worth his salt, and his underling Richard Hughes is certainly not twiddling his thumbs as Liverpool continue to bide their time in the market, the only Premier League side yet to make a signing.

Virgil van Dijk is entering the final year of his contract, but FSG feel Liverpool’s backline is sufficiently protected after Jarell Quansah’s emergence. Similarly, a flanker has been desired by fan circles but Liverpool have a wealth of attacking talent.

Fans would call for a specialist No. 6 to be signed to anchor Arne Slot‘s midfield for the years ahead, with recent rumours suggesting that holding midfielder Wataru Endo is attracting significant interest.

Wataru Endo’s future at Liverpool

The Athletic’s James Pearce has recently revealed that Liverpool have rejected a €14m (roughly £12m) offer from Marseille over the channel for Endo, whose ball-playing quality (or lack, again, thereof) doesn’t really align with Slot’s elegant, uber-controlling brand of football.

The Japanese was a shrewd and successful stop-gap option last year, starting 20 matches in the Premier League and playing a crucial part in winning the Carabao Cup, but Liverpool must now enter a new phase.

He’s indeed technically limited and failed his first audition under new guidance, struggling to perform as Liverpool started off their pre-season tour with a 1-0 victory over Real Betis, being branded with a 4/10 match rating by the Liverpool Echo’s Paul Gorst.

The correspondent wrote: ‘Looked nervous in possession and gave it away in a couple of dangerous areas. One disinterested attempt at a pass caused Betis to bomb on with numbers before Nabil Fekir shot wide. Was later booked. Way off it but as the rest of the summer to sharpen up.’

It’s also important to factor in Endo’s overall performance level at Liverpool. In the Premier League last season, as per Sofascore, the £50k-per-week ace only won 41% of his contested ground duels, hardly speaking of the kind of steely authority needed under Slot’s wing, to ensure the new tactics hit the ground running.

Market value is certainly not everything in identifying a player’s ability by any stretch, but Endo, aged 31, is not going to fetch a price significantly above what Marseille presented.

Market value isn’t everything, but it can be used in admiration of a club’s finest stars, with one seemingly skyrocketing toward the most lucrative standing in Liverpool’s squad.

The man in question is Harvey Elliott.

Harvey Elliott’s market value in 2024

Under Klopp, Elliott bemoaned his lack of playing time, stating in January that he was not content with his role of ‘super-sub‘, instead arguing that his lofty skillset deserves a regular starting berth.

This is not baseless. The 21-year-old was fantastic across the closing months of the 2023/24 campaign, chalking up a goal and four assists across the final six Premier League matches of the term.

His underlying metrics are all the more impressive. As per FBref, Elliott ranks among the top 1% of centre-midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 4% for shot-creating actions, the top 9% for progressive passes and the top 4% for progressive carries per 90.

Such statistics speak of an exciting rise to prominence that has arrived without Elliott establishing himself as one of Liverpool’s mainstays. Undoubtedly, he is one of European football’s most talented players of his age group, but there is a sense that under Slot’s wing, he could explode into life.

Deservedly hailed as a “special talent” by Pearce, Elliott is on the fast track to becoming one of the Premier League’s finest players, seeing his market value shoot skyward over the past few years, having been signed from Fulham for a later-decided £4m tribunal fee when he was a 16-year-old.

He’s now played an important role for the Reds across the past two campaigns, finally starting to earn regular starting berths in the Premier League at the final phase of Klopp’s illustrious tenure – also seeing his output rise in front of goal.

Perhaps Klopp says it best. At the end of his Liverpool tenure, the German actually revealed that his biggest “regret” is that he “did not play [Harvey] more”, making a telling comment on the calibre of his skillset.

Let’s corroborate this further. According to CIES Football Observatory’s valuation model, Elliott currently has a market price of roughly £72m, placing him leagues above his experienced midfielder partner Endo, 500% more, in fact, if referencing that £12m Marseille bid.

Circumstances and age differ, of course, so naturally Endo is not going to offer the same kind of market value, but there’s little to question surrounding Elliott’s fast-rising value in Liverpool’s squad.

Liverpool must ensure that their exciting midfielder is kept on the books for years to come and allowed to bloom into a top-class superstar. The fact that he is already so far above Endo simply tells the story of his exciting rise. The best is yet to come.

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