Three Liverpool youngsters who ‘all stand out’ and have been backed to make pre-season step up

Liverpool are set to reassemble at their AXA training centre as pre-season training begins in earnest ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.

The Reds will return to action little more than five weeks after suffering Champions League final heartbreak to Real Madrid in Paris.

Yet Jurgen Klopp's side will be more determined than ever to avenge that loss and add more silverware to the Anfield trophy cabinet.

Pre-season can indeed be an intriguing time. Liverpool's stars who went on international duty in June - including Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold - won't be reporting back for the first few days.

Club-record signing Darwin Nunez might not be checking in until a later day, either - although fellow new boys Fabio Carvalho and Calvin Ramsay will link up with their new team-mates.

And there's likely to be several youngsters involved to make up the numbers.

The likes of Kaide Gordon, Rhys Williams, Tyler Morton, Owen Beck and Leighton Clarkson are already on the fringes of Jurgen Klopp's squad.

But several new fledgling talents could get their opportunity to catch the eye of the Liverpool boss.

Certainly, assistant manager Pep Lijnders has made it clear that he's looking forward to running the rule over three starlets.

Linjders regularly keeps track of the next generation that's coming through at Anfield.

In May, he was spotted watching the under-23s in action against Manchester United at Kirkby - only the day after Klopp's troops defeated Newcastle United in the Premier League.

And in January, the Dutchman outlined that he wants to see Bobby Clark, Luke Chambers and Stefan Bajcetic train with the first team this summer.

What’s been said

Lijnders, per The Mirror, said: "I really believe in our project looking at our academy. For example, I spent yesterday morning at the Academy to speak with the coaches and Alex Inglethorpe.

“We look all the time at the Academy. [On Tuesday] our under-18s played against Burnley in the FA Youth Cup, we had Bobby Clark, Luke Chambers, and Stefan Bajcetic, they all stand out.

I hope they come with us during the pre-season because it is important for them to have a proper pre-season to know exactly how we want to do things.”

Background

Chambers is highly unlikely to be at training today.

The centre-back has just helped England under-19s to European Championship glory.

He came off the bench in the 3-1 defeat of Isreal in the final on Friday.

Clark, 18, was signed from Newcastle last summer. The versatile attacking talent hit 13 goals for the under-18s last term.

Bajcetic is still only 17 and was prised from Spanish club Celta Vigo in January 2021. He can play in defence or midfield.