Bobby Clark update after Liverpool midfielder misses match amid transfer speculation

Liverpool sent a total of 14 players to the Copa America and European Championship this summer. The late availability of these squad members for the Reds’ pre-season programme ahead of 2024/25 has given others greater opportunities to impress the club’s new head coach.

The first friendly of the summer saw Liverpool lose 1-0 to Preston North End in a match at the AXA Training Center on Friday . As is common at such an early stage of pre-season, a different XI took to the pitch for each half, with a total of 25 players getting minutes from Arne Slot .

However, Bobby Clark was not one of them. This is a big summer for the youngster. It has been reported that Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant Pep Lijnders would like to take Clark on loan to Red Bull Salzburg , while Norwich City are also interested much closer to home. He will want to be involved with Liverpool as soon as possible, but an update has been provided which explains his absence.

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Clark has been side-lined with injury since March. He made two appearances for the first team in 2022/23, then four starts among 12 games in total last season. The highlight was undoubtedly the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea , though he also scored and assisted in a Europa League match with Sparta Prague .

Sadly, he hasn’t resumed full training since. He missed Klopp’s farewell and has yet to truly work with Slot either. According to the Liverpool Echo , Clark has been working on an individual plan as part of his rehabilitation and is unlikely to be heading to the United States this week for friendlies against Real Betis, Arsenal and Manchester United.

He does at least have time on his side. The 19-year-old is under contract with Liverpool until 2028, so is very unlikely to be leaving on a permanent basis any time soon. Slot is well known for using young players so its reasonable to assume Clark will get opportunities to play later in 2024/25.

But he might have been making a positive impression for the head coach while the likes of Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister were out of the picture. It was not to be. Clark will hope his rehabilitation from his back injury is both swift and effective.

Liverpool.com says: Klopp was clearly a fan of Clark. The youngster was included in the match day squad 23 times in a spell of 29 games prior to his season-ending injury. Slot should like him too, it will just take a little longer for him to board the Clark train.