Wednesday 5th July 2017, the day that Liverpool begins to prepare for the 2017/ 18 season. This is the day that pre-season begins, however only for a select few number of players. This is due to international commitment and injuries, and so looking ahead to the pre-season fixtures Liverpool should be looking to bolster the team with a few new youngsters.
To begin with those who have returned. There is a 22 player cohort that will begin their training today, going through positions these are the 22 players returning today:
GK:
Karius
Bogdan
DF:
Clyne
Grabara
Gomez
Moreno
Matip
Sakho
Alexander-Arnold
Flanagan
Milner
Randall
MF:
Henderson
Markovic
Kent
Chirivella
Mane
Lucas
Stewart
FD:
Ings
Sturridge
Firmino
Looking at this list there are some solid additions that will definitely benefit from getting back to pre-season nice and early, such as Sturridge, who could prove very important this coming season, as well as Milner who could still be a big part of the team, whether it’s defensively or further forward in the midfield, he could be pivotal for the team. An interesting addition to the 22 is Mamadou Sakho, who although looks to have agreed terms with Crystal Palace after helping them to secure their status in the premiership, has still turned up, you can’t fault the boys willingness. For other players such as Randall, Stewart, Markovic, Chirivella and Flanagan this could be a good opportunity for these players to get themselves noticed in the shop window, as their Liverpool careers have stagnated significantly.
Onto the players who aren’t starting training today, firstly Rhian Brewster, the 17 year old striker has injured his foot and so will certainly miss pre-season. This is a great shame for the club and player as this pre-season could have been important to his development. For Emre Can there is more positive news for his absence, as he’s just helped Germany to win the Confederations Cup, and so has earned his rest. The same can be said for English Liverpool trio, Solanke, Ojo and Ejaria, who all represented England in their U20 World cup win, and especially Solanke who scored 4 goals and took home the golden ball for best player of the tournament. For others such as Gini Wijnaldum, Lallana and Coutinho, they’ve also been playing for their respective companies however not in a tournament and so would be expected to be back sooner than the previous noted.
It was an early start for the reds that started their pre-season today, with a series of indoor fitness tests, plenty of vertical and horizontal jumping was involved. After this the players split into 2 groups and were involved in lactate testing. John Achterberg was a natural leader for this and took the boys for a few gruelling 400m interval runs. The reds then continued the tough work inside, on a variety of exercise machines. A slow start however preparations are well and truly under way for the coming season.