Diogo Jota makes inevitable fitness admission after joining Liverpool's USA tour

Liverpool attacker Diogo Jota has become the latest to return from his holiday and link up with Arne Slot's squad. He has met up with his colleagues in Pittsburgh ahead of this evening's friendly with Real Betis, immediately making a fitness admission .

Thanks in part to Cristiano Ronaldo and his domineering presence, Jota had to settle for a relatively peripheral role for Portugal at Euro 2024 . Liverpool might have been quietly pleased, given his injury history, although there must have been questions in the country after a quarter-final exit.

In any case, now he is back from his break, there is little doubt that Jota will be a more central part of Slot's plans. The club's most clinical finisher by a distance last season, keeping him fit would be a massive boost.

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Jota has already made a related — and entirely expected — admission on that front. Arriving yesterday evening, he spoke briefly to Liverpoolfc.com .

"It’s great to be back with the team, I just landed in Pittsburgh," he said. "Now I’ll get some rest and get ready to start working tomorrow.

"I’ll try to catch up [fitness-wise] with the team, do my physical work first to be ready to start doing my tactical work to get ready for the new season."

It's no surprise at all to learn that Jota expects to be behind his teammates in the fitness stakes. While he will probably have been doing some level of individual work even while on his break, those who were at the AXA Training Centre before flying out to America have been rigorously put through their paces.

Much like Jurgen Klopp , Slot places a firm focus on intensity. While the lactate test is gone, there is a similarly brutal introduction under the new regime.

Whether Jota gets the exact same treatment while out in the US remains to be seen. But it makes sense that he will also be starting with physical work before being dropped into full training.

For the time being, it certainly sounds like we need to temper any expectations of seeing Jota in action. He should have a chance to feature at the tail-end of the US tour, but it will take him some time to get up to speed, and he certainly won't play a part against Real Betis.

Liverpool.com says: There's no cause for concern here. Jota will essentially start his own personal pre-season on a slight delay — if anything, it's good to hear that he intends to catch up to his teammates, hopefully hinting at a slightly expedited program that gets him on the pitch sooner rather than later.

However, it does underline the tricky situation Slot is in with all of these gradual returns. Rejoining the squad is only the start: for the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alexis Mac Allister , who are not expected back until after the US tour, there has to be a real question over whether they will be ready for the start of the Premier League season.