Liverpool's Midfield Dilemma: Who Will Exit Next?

Liverpool’s midfield puzzle is coming to a head. The window is ticking down, the non-homegrown slots are full, and the next move from Richard Hughes suddenly looks brutally clear.

Three new faces are already through the door, but the squad list is now jammed. Any further non-homegrown arrival means someone has to go. That reality is starting to bite.

Homegrown solutions exist, but they come at a cost that borders on the absurd. Elliott Anderson and Morgan Rogers have just changed hands for fees north of £115 million each, a reminder that the English market is on its own planet. Liverpool can’t simply dip into that pool without feeling it hard on the balance sheet.

So attention turns inwards. Who makes way?

Endo pushed towards the exit

The answer, right now, is Wataru Endo.

Journalist Pete O’Rourke reports that Liverpool are ready to listen to offers for the Japan international. Calvin Ramsay’s name has also been in the background, but with Andoni Iraola’s defence already creaking, the young Scot may yet be kept as cover.

If Ramsay stays, Endo becomes the obvious sacrifice.

The 34-year-old has only just returned from a major injury and has a single year left on his contract. From a purely strategic point of view, this is the moment to cash in, trim the wage bill, and open a valuable squad slot.

It is also a risk. Strip out your only experienced specialist holding midfielder and you leave a hole that can’t be patched by improvisation. Especially if the alternatives repeat last season’s struggles.

That’s the gamble Liverpool seem prepared to take. And it points in one direction: the next signing almost has to be a number six.

A new anchor becomes non-negotiable

Liverpool’s need for a defensive midfielder has been obvious for months. Almost everyone watching them last season could see it. The balance wasn’t right, the protection in front of the back four too fragile.

Ryan Gravenberch was asked to plug that gap at times and never convinced as a consistent solution. Yet he has still been handed a lucrative new deal, a clear sign the club are committing to him in a different role rather than moving him on.

That decision only sharpens the focus on bringing in a true holding midfielder. Internal fixes have been tried. They haven’t stuck.

Names have been circling. Marc Casado and Adam Wharton are currently the most prominent options on the radar. Barcelona have already told Casado he can leave, making him a realistic, accessible target. Crystal Palace, by contrast, do not want to lose Wharton, and the price reflects it: he is expected to cost around €100 million.

Of the two, Wharton looks the cleaner tactical fit for Liverpool’s needs, a long-term anchor who could define the midfield for years. The fee, though, drags the conversation straight back to that inflated market and the brutal arithmetic of squad building.

There are still weeks left in this window. Plans can twist quickly. But with Endo seemingly edging towards the exit and Liverpool boxed in by their non-homegrown quota, the path is narrowing.

The next player through the Anfield door almost has to be a number six. The only real question now is: which one, and at what price?