Slot could boldly axe “special” Liverpool star who’s the new James Milner

Arne Slot is hardly riding on Jurgen Klopp’s coattails, but it’s fair to say that the Dutch tactician has made use of his predecessor’s assembled Liverpool squad.

That’s why the forthcoming transfer window is so important. Liverpool need to sort out their lingering contractual concerns while targeting the right players to shore up the team this summer.

Liverpool are firm favourites to win the Premier League, with the midfield engine driving the efforts. Slot has been reluctant to chop and change, but his formula, on this front, has worked a treat.

Liverpool’s transformational rebuild

It’s May 2023 and Liverpool are staring down the barrel of a gun. For the first time in a full season under Klopp’s management, Anfield has failed to qualify for the Champions League.

Triumph in the 2022/23 season’s curtain-raiser – a win over Manchester City in the Community Shield – issued delusions of grandeur.

But this false dawn was a product of hesitations and a lack of transfer investment. Liverpool’s midfield were tired, past their sell-by date. Jordan Henderson and Fabinho and co were actually branded “awful” by pundit Jamie Carragher after one embarrassing defeat against newly-promoted Nottingham Forest.

Approaching the end of their contracts, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were all expected to leave at the end, ushering in a new group of talents to reshape the central fold.

But Saudi Pro League approaches for Fabinho and Liverpool’s captain were unforeseen, prompting a more dramatic rebuild that saw Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo brought in.

All four midfielders have played important roles since joining, each levelling up within Slot’s system. However, Endo was only brought in as a stop-gap option from Stuttgart for £16m.

Having now played 69 times for the Merseyside club, Endo has paid his due and then some, although, his continued presence in the team runs the risk of seeing him become the club’s next Milner, a modern legend but perhaps one who stayed in the mix for a tad too long.

Liverpool’s new James Milner

The argument for Endo’s sale this summer is a strong one. Indeed, the Japan international hasn’t started a single game in the Premier League this season and isn’t getting any younger at 32.

However, he’s achieved cult status within Liverpool circles for his tough-tackling, all-important cameos in recent months, introduced late on to steer Slot’s side over the line.

As per FBref, he ranks among the top 14% of midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 15% for tackles and the top 16% for clearances per 90, underscoring that point.

He might be a well-liked part of the team and a valuable defensive option besides, but Endo has played the equivalent of a game-and-a-half of football in the Premier League and we have reached the penultimate month of the campaign.

Moreover, Sky Germany have reported that Eintracht Frankfurt have already made enquiries for the £50k-per-week midfielder ahead of the summer window, and that Liverpool have confirmed his departure is a possibility.

There’s a possibility that Endo is indeed turning into the next Milner, having been compared to “one of the biggest Liverpool legends of my time” by Klopp for his ability to enter the fray late on and close games down.

Milner, who joined Liverpool on a free transfer from Manchester City when he was 29 and went on to play 332 times for the Merseysiders – more than for any other club – is one of the more prosaic members of Anfield’s modern dynasty, but an important one all the same.

The former England international was 37 when he departed in 2023, finding a new home on the South Coast with Brighton & Hove Albion, but he ceded that the time was right to move on.

In fact, Liverpool could have been quicker in cutting ties with the veteran, who was very much a part of the malfunctioning midfield cohort across 2022/23, so sapped and tired after many years of tireless running in Klopp’s system.

Now, Endo, praised for his “special” qualities by Slot, is much younger than Milner was when he left Liverpool, but there’s little question about the Englishman’s prodigious fitness levels, so incredible in his ability to keep pace with his youngers.

However, the signs of his regression were clear on that final campaign. As per Sofascore, he completed 81% of his passes, won 48% of his duels and averaged 0.4 key passes and 0.8 tackles per game.

Contrast that with the 2018/19 season: Milner succeeded with 75% of his dribbles, won 56% of his duels, made 1.4 key passes and tackles apiece on average each game and racked up nine goal involvements.

Milner’s still kicking in the Premier League, but it’s fair to say that Liverpool could have benefitted from acting quicker in crafting their midfield rebuild before Klopp left – though with the title on the horizon, it’s all worked out rather okay.

FSG’s Liverpool sporting director, Richard Hughes, will need to think long and hard about enforcing a few changes in midfield this summer. It’s not the priority area this summer, but with past mistakes highlighting the error in not being a bit more ambitious in the transfer market, it’s something worth considering for sure.

Were Endo to leave, a young and fresh new option could be welcomed to provide competition to Gravenberch, who has looked leggy in recent weeks. Time, of course, will tell.