Liverpool have named a youthful squad for their first pre-season tour under new manager Arne Slot , who is without a number of first-team stars for the trip to the USA.
The Reds are heading Stateside this summer for the first time since 2019 for a three-match friendly schedule that begins against LaLiga outfit Real Betis in Pittsburgh on Friday, before stops in Philadelphia and Columbia, South Carolina to face Arsenal and Manchester United respectively.
But Liverpool will be without scores of regulars - at least initially - on the trip due to their respective involvement on international duty earlier this summer at Euro 2024 and the Copa America.
Such a number currently on post-tournament holidays includes captain Virgil van Dijk, plus Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez, who were both part of the England squad that reached the Euros final in Germany.
Van Dijk’s Dutch team-mates Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch are also absent, along with Darwin Nunez, Alisson Becker, Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz, all of whom featured in the recent Copa America competition in the USA.
Ibrahima Konate and Diogo Jota are the other players given time off after the European Championship.
Some of those players could yet join up with their Liverpool team-mates during the course of the US trip, but those who went deep into those respective international tournaments aren’t expected to return to duty until afterwards, with Slot’s side also hosting Sevilla at Anfield on August 11 before beginning the new Premier League campaign away to newly-promoted Ipswich six days later.
Such a long list of absences and the lack of signings so far this summer gives a very youthful look to Liverpool’s ‘initial’ 28-man tour squad, with Luke Chambers, Marcelo Pitaluga, Kaide Gordon, Owen Beck, Amara Nallo, Lewis Koumas, Tyler Morton, Harvey Blair, Luca Stephenson, Harvey Davies and Trey Nyoni among the young players set for a chance to impress along with the fit-again Ben Doak, James McConnell and Vitezslav Jaros.
The likes of Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai are included after their respective Euros campaigns ended at the group stage, while Nat Phillips also travels despite being heavily linked with a move away from Merseyside this summer.
Fabio Carvalho is included after his productive loan spell at Hull, so too Sepp van den Berg after a season at Mainz, while Stefan Bajcetic will hope for some valuable minutes after missing almost the entirety of last season due to injury.
Two notable young absentees are Jayden Danns and Bobby Clark, both of whom have been dealing with injuries of late. There is also no space for Polish goalkeeper Fabian Mrozek.
Liverpool made a poor start to the Slot era, losing 1-0 to Championship side Preston in a behind-closed-doors friendly held at their Kirkby training centre last weekend. 25 players in total featured for the Reds in a game decided by Robbie Brady’s long-range goal.
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