Wrexham's executive director, Humphrey Ker, has expressed his desire to bring Liverpool's Wataru Endō to the League One newcomers. He believes that the Japanese international's move to Liverpool last summer serves as a "good lesson" for modern football.

Endō, a 31-year-old midfielder, joined the Anfield side in August in a deal worth around $20m (£16m/€19m) after Liverpool's unsuccessful attempts to sign Moisés Caicedo and Roméo Lavia. Liverpool had initially targeted Lavia and Caicedo, then of Southampton and Brighton respectively, as potential replacements for Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, who left their illustrious Anfield careers behind for the Saudi Pro League.

After failing to secure a deal for the relatively inexperienced duo, who picked Chelsea instead despite Liverpool proposing a British transfer record of $144m (£115m/€134m) for Caicedo, the focus was switched to signing Endō. So far, he has proven to be much better value for money.

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Although the Japan international initially struggled to make his mark at Anfield, he has since become a crucial part of the Reds' squad in 2024, including a standout performance at Wembley in February's League Cup victory over Chelsea.

After a sensational first season with Liverpool, Ker has openly expressed his desire to see Wataru Endō don the Wrexham kit, a club now under the spotlight thanks to owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The Hollywood pair have seen their team, Wrexham, ascend to League One after finishing second in League Two, marking their first appearance at that level since 2005.

Ker shared his thoughts with Sport Bible: "In terms of who's one of my favorite players and who would I love to see playing in a Wrexham shirt? At present, I've got a real soft spot for Wataru Endō, who is kind of a perfect encapsulation of the fury in the summer when Liverpool missed out on Caicedo and Lavia and it was all doom and gloom and disaster.

"And then they sign Wataru Endō and it was like 'well, who's this guy? I've never heard of him'. He was only 16 million quid, what are they playing at? And then he's been one of the signings of the season."

He continued, highlighting a valuable lesson from Endō's recruitment: "I think there's a good lesson there for all of us in terms of, you know, the glitz and the glamour and the big price tags and 'what are Liverpool doing not spending 100 million on a central midfielder'.

"It's like, you don't need to spend 100 million, you need to spend your money wisely, you've got to find and identify the best players. I don't know Wataru Endō but you can see he's got fantastic character.

"He's got a fantastic work ethic, you see in the interactions, the pictures and the other players, they clearly all really like him and he's done an unbelievable job there. So yeah, if money is no object and the player does not particularly mind about moving to North Wales. I'm a big fan of his."

After securing Endō's signature on a four-year contract last summer, Jürgen Klopp shared that he received numerous messages from ex-players praising the acquisition. "I got plenty of messages from former players of mine," Klopp disclosed. "Everybody (said), 'If it's true, this is a genius strike. I asked to sign him for years'. It was a very positive thing in Germany he's super-highly respected.

"I think for Stuttgart it's really hard to lose him but on the other side, I think it's a good deal as well, one year left [on his] contract. For him, it's good. For the club, it's good. For us, it's really good. He is really happy to join us, which is nice as well."

Liverpool.com says: Endō has had a much better season than most Liverpool fans expected. It will be interesting to see if he can maintain those levels next season and how much Arne Slot wants to use him.