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Fortunately his arrival paid off, with the 31-year-old proving himself to be one of the Reds’ best players in Jurgen Klopp’s final season in charge.

READ MORE: Arne Slot impresses behind the scenes as £20m midfielder assessed by Liverpool

READ MORE: Arne Slot may already have found his new Liverpool No.6

But it is clear that Endo is not a long-term solution for Liverpool.

And with the Reds having been left short at number six last season, with Alexis Mac Allister often having to play out of position to fill the deeper role, the Japanese himself has admitted he wants to see new head coach Arne Slot bring in another defensive midfield option.

Liverpool have already been linked with such players, including Atalanta’s Ederson.

Last August, The Athletic reported that Aston Villa’s Boubacar Kamara name also ranked highly when the club’s data department started passing on information regarding possible replacements for Fabinho.

At the time, the France international was just starting his second season with Aston Villa, having established himself as first-choice after being signed by Reds legend Steven Gerrard on a free transfer from Marseille in May 2022.

Fast forward a year and Villa are having to sell players in order to stay on the right side of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, despite qualifying for the Champions League.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have made a £20m move for Omari Kellyman and are in talks regarding a deal for Jhon Duran, Juventus look set to sign Douglas Luiz for £42.3m (though will receive £18.5m for Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea moving the other way) and Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly had a bid rejected for Jacob Ramsey.

However, despite Kamara reportedly being on Liverpool’s radar last summer, there is one glaring issue that would likely prevent the Reds from taking advantage of Villa’s current predicament and snapping up the midfielder before the end of the month - His season was ended by an ACL injury back in February.

Consequently, he would be unlikely to even return to individual training until after pre-season has finished and the new season has got underway at best.

Given the serious nature of such a knee injury, it would be a gamble to sign the Frenchman even if available for a cut-price fee.

The France international has made 56 appearances for Villa to date, but missed 34 games because of injury after also suffering knee and ankle issues in his first season at Villa Park.

Still only 24, Liverpool could potentially continue to monitor Kamara following his return from injury, watching on with interest to see if he could capture his previous levels.

But as Virgil van Dijk can vouch for, it certainly takes time after such a lay-off.

Consequently, while Kamara was mooted as a possible Fabinho replacement last summer, on this occasion it is a transfer opportunity the Reds won’t be grasping.


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