The amazing reason Liverpool summer transfer Wataru Endo wears gumshield during matches
WATARU ENDO has finally answered the question that’s been on Liverpool fans’ lips since he signed for the club.
The Japan international joined the Reds in the summer from German big boys Stuttgart for a fee of £16.2million.
Kopites have been thrilled with the midfielder’s displays so far this season, in which he’s scored two goals and provided one assist.
The 30-year-old’s decision to wear a mouthguard has had the chins of the Anfield faithful wagging as much as his performances.
And he’s revealed he decided to don the protective gear to keep his pearly whites safe and sound after being advised to by a dentist.
He told Sky Sports: “When I was in Germany, I met a Japanese dentist; he told me, ‘It’’s a good mouthpiece, it makes something different about performance’.
“Now I just wear it to protect my teeth and also it looks like a fighter, so when I go into the pitch I just put the mouthpiece on and it’s like game mode.”
Endo has started Liverpool’s last five matches on the trot and impressed in Liverpool’s midweek thumping of West Ham.
Manager Jurgen Klopp said of his new signing: “We see him every day in training and he is one of the hardest-working people I ever met.
“It was always clear that it will be good, but I’m happy obviously for him that the public could see it now as well, because that’s pretty helpful in our job.
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“Yeah, it was a really good game [against West Ham].
“And he gives something different to the team, we have to say, that’s clear. He’s the one for the tackles.
“We don’t have now 20 players on the pitch who have tackling as a hobby.
“He is doing it.
“On top of that, his passing is really good, his awareness is really good, he finds his position better in possession, all these things.
“It’s football and sometimes it takes a little bit of time but that’s no problem for me.”