Wataru Endo surprises Liverpool fans by revealing what position he used to play

Wataru Endo has been a shrewd addition for Liverpool. Signed from Stuttgart on a cut-price deal after a move for Moises Caicedo failed to materialize, he gave Jurgen Klopp's midfield a lot more bite last season — but he's revealed that this isn't his original position.

When scrambling to find out about Endo last summer, many fans noted that he had previously played as a center-back while in Japan (thank you, Transfermarkt). It seemed there may even be a prospect of him filling in there at Anfield, with the Reds opting against strengthening in that position.

But the rise of Jarell Quansah helped ensure we never saw that experiment. And it turns out Endo's change in career trajectory was far more drastic than simply stepping up from center-back into holding midfield.

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Speaking on the Red Machine podcast (released by Liverpool's official publishing partner Kodansha), Endo has opened up about his journey. The club website has relayed what he said:

“For me, it’s always important to win the duels, because I play in defensive midfield,” Endo noted. “When I started playing football, I played No.9 and I scored a lot!

“It’s common in Japan, most of the Japanese football players, if you asked them which position you were when you grew up, almost everyone was a No.9. It’s very common, it often happens with Japanese players, and I was also a No.9.

“Then, after that I started playing almost every position: full-back, No.10, No.8, right-back and No.6. Then I moved to Sint-Truiden in Belgium and I started to play as a No.6 since then. I have played a lot of positions.”

The way Endo recalls it, his position as a defensive midfielder was not really set in stone until he moved to Europe. Only making the switch to Belgium in his mid-20s, after eight years in the J-League, that's a significant chunk of his career where he was chopping and changing between a huge variety of positions.

From Sint-Truiden onward, he has been cemented in the number six role. But now he has shared this revelation, you can see in his game the more comprehensive positional grounding — Endo was renowned in Stuttgart for his uncommonly high number of goal involvements from his deep base, and we've seen him drive forward at Liverpool too.

Only time will tell what the future holds for Endo under new boss Arne Slot. Let's see if he has any more surprises up his sleeve.

Liverpool.com says: The more you think about it, the less surprising it is that Endo has played such a variety of positions. Even so, it's interesting to learn that he only really settled down upon making the move to Europe.

At 31, he's unlikely to be making any more radical position changes, although the center-back question might come up again if Liverpool elects not to sign anyone there for a second consecutive summer. But wherever he features, Endo still has enough left in the tank to be a useful player for Slot.