James Pearce shares what Liverpool insiders have told him about £34m player moving to Anfield
Liverpool insiders have moved to rule out the possibility of Andre Trindade joining the Reds in January.
Andre has been heavily linked with Liverpool ahead of the winter window. After seeing a move to Anfield blocked by Fluminense during the summer, it seemed possible that Jurgen Klopp would come back in for the 22-year-old.
But according to journalist James Pearce, that now looks unlikely to happen. Speaking on The Athletic Football Podcast this week, Pearce was asked for the latest on Liverpool’s transfer plans.
“Liverpool have been repeatedly linked with Andre from Fluminense but again the people I’ve spoken to at Liverpool have said they’re unlikely to go back in for him,” said the journalist.
“He was looked at as a possible alternative last summer when they were struggling to do a deal with Southampton for Romeo Lavia, in the end they moved on from Andre.
“I think when you look at Endo growing in confidence in that No.6 role, Mac Allister has obviously played there a lot, I don’t think they see that as a real necessity.”
Liverpool move on from Andre
Pearce’s words echo what has been said from his colleague at The Athletic, David Ornstein this week.
Ornstein claimed yesterday that while Liverpool did indeed make a call about Andre over the summer, they’ve since moved on.
As a result, we think we can now cross the Brazilian off the list of potential January arrivals at Anfield.
To a portion of fans, that will be seen as a huge mistake. Although he represents something of a gamble having never played in Europe before, Andre looks like the real deal.
As Pearce points out, both Endo and Mac Allister have a good enough job for Liverpool so far in the holding role.
But there are still doubts over whether Endo is of the required standard longer-term, while Mac Allister was never signed to play the position at all.
If Andre were brought in, he’d ease the pressure on both players to do a job they perhaps aren’t cut out for.
On the other side of the coin, if Liverpool don’t think they need Andre, then we’re happy to take their word for it. The Reds have a good enough record in the market to earn that trust. If they don’t see the reported £34m price-tag as being necessary at this time, then we’ll just have to back them on that.
‘Different’… Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool have a player who really gives them something unique
But all the while, Klopp’s faith in his new No.3 has been evident. The manager has publicly praised Endo on more than one occasion this season and during his pre-Arsenal press conference yesterday, Jurgen was at it again.
“We see him every day in training, he is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met,” raved the Liverpool boss. “It was always clear that he will be good. But I’m obviously happy for him that the public could see it now as well.
“It was a really good game [against West Ham] and he gives something different to the team, we have to say that, it’s clear. He’s the one for the tackles. We don’t have 20 players on the pitch who have tackling as a hobby, but he’s doing it.
“On top of that his passing is really good, his awareness is really good, he finds his position better in possession and all of these things. It’s football, it takes a little bit of time, but that’s no problem for me.”
Klopp backs tough-tackling Endo
Although Endo is still yet to fully convince the whole of the Liverpool fan base, it’s been nice to see the improvement in his game of late.
The Japan captain still looks half a second slow to react on occasion. But by and large, Endo does seem to be getting to grips with what Klopp wants from him.
Part of the reason for that is undoubtedly the former Stuttgart man’s work ethic. Endo seems to be a really smart footballer who analyses his own game in detail.
You can imagine he’s an attentive trainer who won’t need telling too many times what is expected of him.
One thing that doesn’t necessarily need too much work in training for Endo is his tackling.
As Klopp points out, Liverpool are not currently blessed with a big amount of natural tacklers in the squad. As a No.6, this is part and parcel of Endo’s game.
He’s certainly not afraid of jumping in for a duel. As per Fotmob, Wataru has won 1.62 tackles per 90 in the Premier League this season, which puts him in in 71st percentile of players in the division. With a 73% win-rate in those tackles, he’s one of the most efficient in the division.
Endo’s duels could still do with work, the Japanese’s figure of 43% of duels won per 90 minutes isn’t as good as it could be. Nevertheless, after seeing Fabinho struggle to put a challenge in last year, it’s nice to have someone who’s willing to go into a good old fashioned 50/50 again.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has given a relatively positive injury update on Andy Robertson.
Robertson has been missing since October, having dislocated his shoulder whilst on international duty with Scotland.
In the months in-between, Kostas Tsimikas has slowly morphed into a decent enough impression of the 29-year-old. But Liverpool still miss their regular left-back.
Now, speaking to the press ahead of the Reds game against Arsenal tomorrow, Klopp was asked about how Robertson is getting on in his recovery.
“Andy is doing well, the shoulder is not exactly there, the rest of the body is fine but we need to be patient a little bit longer,” said the Liverpool manager.
“But he’s fine, he can do all the physical work already which annoys him quite a lot because he’s not allowed for ball training! When he’s ready to go, allowed to go, I think it’s a short time until he will be back. We all hope it will be January but we don’t know.”
Robertson frustrated with injury
You can really understand Robbo’s frustration here. Unlike with a muscle injury, the defender is technically able to do everything he usually can with a ball at his feet.
But with physical contact not allowed with the recovery, he’s not able to join in with his teammates.
It’s a slightly strange situation for Robertson, who has barely been injured during his previous six years with the club.
Usually one of the biggest voices and personalities around the dressing room, you can imagine he’s missing being with the team.
Nevertheless, January will soon roll around. There’s still plenty of football left to play this season and Robertson can still play a big part.
Until then, it has to be said that Tsimikas has really started to show up.
Having really struggled initially, Kostas has begun to once again resemble the dependable left-back we saw over the last couple of years.
Once he returns, it’s still very likely that Robertson will return to being Klopp’s first-choice pick. But Tsimikas deserves credit for stepping in, too. Not too much longer, Robbo. Keep at it!
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