Detailed Wataru Endo Scouting Report - Welcome to Liverpool!

Sprints, Stamina, Smart Passes & a Snip

This article is a remedy to anyone suffering from “never heard of him” bias. First of all, his in-depth, deep-diving data:

Okay, so. excuse my slightly tongue-in-cheek radar, but with Endo's actual radar already looking so good, it was worth trying to make a point about the less-measurable aspects (albeit I expect that computer games do give values for these).

Anyway, below follows an article from our separate Transfer Hub Substack, which is a way to subsidise Mizgan Masani's analysis, as well as the fees for editing and scouting software. This piece went live on there yesterday, but today I'm topping and tailing it, to share on the TTT Main Hub, as I tend to do once a player is officially signed.

Of the 11 metrics that Mizgan uses to compare Edno with four other midfielders (including Moises Caicedo and Roméo Lavia and two others linked with Liverpool), only Cheick Doucouré has more 1st-placed rankings (five). Caicedo has one, and Lavia has none. All of Doucouré’s are in the defensive-only categories.

Caicedo scores well to rank 2nd a further five times, but of the five players covered, Endo ranks 1st or 2nd in seven metrics, ahead of anyone else for combined 'gold' or 'silver'. These include on-ball stats in a weak team in Germany.

Lavia has just one such placing, but I still think he's ahead of the game for his age. (But Stefan Bajcetic, a year younger, is even more ahead of the game.)

Also, Caicedo and Endo are the only two who have their 1st or 2nd-places spread from defensive to on-ball statistics. They seem the two most-rounded players at this point.

And as one of the stats that Endo doesn't win (pass completion %) is one that I see as mostly an utter waste of time (the most expressive passers actually tend to have lower rates, with someone like Kevin de Bruyne statistically 'worse' than 92% of midfielders by this metric, and with Trent Alexander-Arnold ranking way down in 39th out of 100 compared to other full-backs passing rates).

It has to be combined into some metric with pass difficulty, as about 95% of backwards passes are completed.

Finally, there's a full, professional scouting video, that isn't about highlights but assessing in detail, followed by various glowing testimonials about the player.

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