Wataru Endo #6

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Nicknamed “The Duel King” in Japan, Endo excels at reading the game, using his powerful upper-body balance to shut down opponents. What’s his secret? “Some of it is timing,” he told The Times. “A tackle is not just hitting against your opponent, you have to be in the right position and maybe be clever and guess what an opponent is thinking, or the play they want to make. Japanese, I think, are clever, so you can use the benefit of that to win a duel. That’s my opinion anyway, and it works for me.” In February he sustained what looked like a season-ending injury in Liverpool’s game against Sunderland – it has been an anxious battle to regain fitness for this summer. He spoke of the emotion of the moment at the time, saying: “The doctor asked me if I could stand up and walk off the pitch but I said no and I was crying a little bit … I was not crying because it was painful, it was because our fans were singing my song and that means a lot to me.” Off the pitch he has a big online following in Japan for his video blogs and articles about football, life and parenting, and has written a self-help book called “Duel”, subtitled “30 ways of thinking that don't need correct answers”.

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