Arne Slot drops double Liverpool selection hint for Manchester United friendly - 'looking forward to'

Arne Slot has suggested that Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch will be handed starts in Liverpool’s final friendly of their pre-season tour of the USA.

Slot has inherited a depleted squad since taking over as Anfield head coach this summer. Because of Euro 2024 and the Copa America, he has been without a plethora of senior players.

Diogo Jota helped Portugal reach the quarter-finals of the Euros and met up with Liverpool in America. The striker featured for the opening 45 minutes of the 2-1 win over Arsenal in Philadelphia.

Ibrahima Konate (France) and Ryan Gravenberch (Holland) have also linked up with the Reds as they prepare to face fierce rivals Manchester United in Columbia, South Carolina on Sunday (00.30 BST). Slot is relishing having more options available to him and looking forward to seeing centre-back Konate and midfielder Gravenberch in action.

Slot told LFCTV: “They will play like Diogo, 45 minutes against United. Pleased to see they are back, they came back in real good shape. [I’m] looking forward to seeing them in a game because I think both of them have shown they are very good players.”

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Alexis Mac Allister, Alisson Becker, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz are all set to report back for duty when Liverpool return to Merseyside.