Wataru Endo admits he understood the surprise when he joined Liverpool from Stuttgart in August, but insists he doesn't care about any criticism of the deal.
After missing out on the two defensive midfielders, Jurgen Klopp and sporting director Jorg Schmadtke turned their attention to Endo
There was plenty of surprise and even shock about the speed of the deal and the profile of the player at the time
Endo, though, insists he is not concerned by those who questioned the deal too much after he scored his first Reds goal
Endo
"I understand they say that stuff because I'm 30 years old and I know Liverpool wanted to sign younger players," Endo said. "But that's normal. I didn't care what they said, I just have to do my job.
"And if I play well, it's a good sign. Not only today, my performances are getting better and better and I can see it improving more so I just try to do my job every game."
Endo was one of four new midfielders who joined the club over the summer as the engine room underwent a significant makeover
Endo added:
"Macca is more offensive but defensively he always tries to do it better. As he keeps playing he gets stronger defensively. I can learn a lot of things from him and I think it's a good balance between me and Macca.
"I think we have very good midfielders, it's not only the four new players, we also have Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, so many No.8 players. We also have sixes, Macca and I, Thiago Alcantara is injured but he will come back and Stefan Bajcetic is a No.6. We have very good midfielders.
"Training is totally different between Liverpool and Stuttgart. When I got here I was a bit surprised to train here because they have a lot of quality and it's very intense. But that's what I wanted to have in training.
"I didn't start many games in the Premier League yet so I don't see the difference [much]. But at Newcastle, it was a very tough game and physically, the speed, everything is different between Europe and the league."
Endo insisted.
"We have very good attackers and everyone works 100% every game whether they start or not. Today, Mo scored from the bench, that's a very important thing.
"You don't only have the starting XI and everybody is always ready to be playing."
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