While some clubs lack leaders, Liverpool can boast five international captains in their squad. The latest, Japan's Wataru Endo, acknowledges his signing was a 'surprise' but insists Jurgen Klopp knows what he's doing filling the midfield hole vacated by Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
Endo's deal from Stuttgart was rushed less than a fortnight before the transfer window shut when Liverpool lost out to Chelsea for Moises Caicedo.
At 30, the tigerish midfield holder doesn't fit the normal younger profile of Liverpool signings. But the team are unbeaten in the four starts he's made so far with another likely at Brighton on Sunday with Curtis Jones suspended.