Jurgen Klopp’s long tenure at Anfield came to an end on Sunday when Liverpool came out on top with a comfortable 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League.

First half goals from Jarrell Quansah and Alexis Mac Allister were enough to secure all three points for the Reds on Merseyside, as they finished third in the division.

The attention will, possibly after a period of looking back on Klopp’s success and legacy on Merseyside, to incoming boss Arne Slot and what he will do with the Club moving forward.

With the summer transfer window now fast approaching, the Dutch head coach may already have thoughts on how he would like to shape the squad ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.

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One player who he must get rid of, either from the Club or as a regular starter, is midfielder Wataru Endo, after he let Jurgen Klopp down one last time with a poor display in the middle of the park.

Wataru Endo’s poor performance against Wolves

The Japan international lined up in midfield alongside Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott but left a lot to be desired with his work out of possession throughout the contest, ultimately handed a distinctly average 6/10 rating by Liverpool World.

Whilst Liverpool ultimately won the match against the ten-men of Wolves, who had Nelson Semedo sent off at 0-0 after 28 minutes, Endo was still found wanting on the physical side of the game.

As you can see in the table above, the defensive midfielder lost a whopping 11 of his 18 duels against Gary O’Neil’s side, which shows that opposition players found it far too easy to get the better of him.

Endo, who also created just 0.04 xA for his teammates, was dribbled past a staggering six times. For context, no player was dribbled past more than 2.2 times per game in the division this season, which speaks to how poor the midfielder was on Sunday.

Why Arne Slot must move on from Wataru Endo

Slot must now make the former Stuttgart star a rotation or back-up player, or find a way to cash in on him this summer, as he should not be a regular starter for the Reds next term.

Signed from the Bundesliga last year, the 31-year-old enforcer has struggled with the physicality of the Premier League at times this season for the Reds.

Endo ended the top-flight campaign with a duel success rate of 44% and a ground duel success rate of just 42%, which shows that opponents got the better of him more often than not.

The experienced battler, who did not register a single assist in the division, was almost dribbled past as many times per game (1.4) as he completed tackles per game (1.7), which illustrates how flaky he was in the middle of the park for Liverpool.

Manchester City’s Rodri won 59% of his duels and Arsenal’s Declan Rice won 52% of his battles, whilst both players were dribbled past less than once per match on average, and this shows the level of physicality that is required from a player at the base of a title-contending midfield.

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Therefore, Slot should look to get rid of Endo from the starting XI next season and potentially look to recruit a stronger defensive midfielder to anchor the side.