Arne Slot says something unfortunate has happened to Liverpool this summer

Arne Slot has admitted it’s unfortunate that the majority of his Liverpool squad will not get a full pre-season behind them.

Euro 2024 and the Copa America have meant that Slot has been bereft of senior players during his first summer as head coach. While he’s trying to impart his new style after succeeding Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield hot seat, the Dutchman only had first-team regulars Mo Salah, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Caoimhin Kelleher and Jarell Quansah from the opening day of pre-season along with fledgling talents such as Conor Bradley and Fabio Carvalho.

Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai linked up later in the summer while Diogo Jota has now joined the squad after they jetted to the USA for a pre-season tour. Ryan Gravenberch and Ibrahima Konate are set to report for duty Stateside but Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Alexis Mac Allister, Darwin Nunez, Alisson Becker and Luis Diaz are unlikely to be back until Liverpool return to the AXA Training Centre next month.

Slot held a press conference in Pittsburgh ahead of the Reds’ pre-season friendly against Real Betis. He was asked about how important it is having Salah for the entire period and replied: “I think it's important for every player to have a full pre-season but unfortunately that's almost impossible for most of the players in these current times where we play so many Euros and other kinds of tournaments.

“But I think in an ideal situation, every player wants to have a proper pre-season. Fortunately, Mo has one. Unfortunately, many others don't have it. But it's the way it is these days.”