He said: "Darwin of course had his problems in the beginning.
"Didn't speak a word of English, you are a high-profile signing and don't hit the target immediately - for us, yes (he did) but for the outside world, the other big signing that year, Erling Haaland, scored 500 goals and all these kind of things. It's difficult. You don't want to pay attention to it but it's a public world, you get aware of it.
"How he went through that is so special. It's happened to so many boys but for different reasons. Wataru Endo, a lifelong dream got fulfilled for him. A late bloomer in Japan, a late bloomer in Germany and then arriving at Liverpool turning 31 in his first year and nobody thinks about (his) age at a club where age is for signings pretty much the most important factor. It's so good.
"We were lucky with our selection. We were good in judgement of players and lucky with character because you never know 100%. It's a good group, definitely."