Angelo Stiller has made Wataru Endo a forgotten man in Stuttgart

Much was made of the fact that Wataru Endo left Stuttgart just before the season. But the emergence of Angelo Stiller meant that Stuttgart quickly moved on from Endo.

Before the Bundesliga kicked off, plenty was made of the fact that Wataru Endo's last-minute departure to Liverpool would hurt VfB Stuttgart. Then Serhou Guirassy started his incredible goalscoring run that has seen him score 14 goals in just eight Bundesliga games. Those goals, in particular, made people forget about the worries that Endo’s departure presented.

Stuttgart’s emergence as a top club wasn’t just down to Guirassy’s incredible run, however. Just days after selling Endo for €20 million, Stuttgart reinvested part of that transfer in Angelo Stiller. The 22-year-old arrived for €5.5m from Hoffenheim to be reunited with head coach Sebastian Hoeneß.

Hoeneß coached Stiller while in charge of Bayern II, and when the head coach left for Hoffenheim, the central midfielder soon followed. Even before this season, only US men’s national team defender Chris Richards has played more games under Hoeneß than Stiller.