There will inevitably be a large section of Liverpool fans celebrating the omission of Jarell Quansah and Curtis Jones from the England squad for the upcoming Euros.
And, to be fair, the logic behind the widespread desire to see the couple left out is quite sound.
A longer rest after a tough season and eliminating the risk of injury during the summer can only be a good thing.
This also goes for the fact that both players will now be available to sign up for pre-season when it starts in early July.
If Quansah and Jones’ aim is to be in the best possible shape for the new campaign and ensure Arne Slott knows exactly what they can do, then an early start is clearly best.
However, to cheer the fact that both have been left out is to ignore the players’ disappointment at missing out on a rare chance to be involved in a major tournament.
This perhaps self-serving view of international football ignores the other, more difficult to measure benefits of inclusion, which will continue to be available to the countless Liverpool players who will represent their countries this summer.
There is no better testament to the possible upsides of international football than Sadio Mane, whose 2021-22 season was partly defined by his exploits at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The forward traveled to Algeria in January, scoring a rate of 0.38 goals per game to that point in the campaign, and with just one goal in his last 10 appearances.
But his three goals and the winning penalty in the final shoot-out ensured Senegal lifted the trophy for the first time and provided a huge confidence boost for the player which had huge consequences for Liverpool.
Mane then returned to Anfield and scored an improved rate of 0.52 goals per game for the rest of the season, ending a ridiculous run of nine in 14 games in which the Reds were close to the top four.
Current Liverpool favorite Alexis Mac Allister has had a similar performance, having gone up another level after helping Lionel Messi and Argentina win the World Cup two years ago.
His contribution in Qatar and form in the months that followed paved the way for a move to Liverpool and a fine debut season, in which he picked up the first major trophy of his career in Europe.
Speaking about the importance of that experience with his nation, he later said: “The World Cup helped me realize that I really want to win more trophies. That of course gives you a lot of confidence and it certainly helps when you have experience.”
Liverpool will be hoping that some of their players can enjoy similar benefits after this summer, with so many of their players being called up by their countries.
For example, Darwin Nunez can certainly be boosted just by the fact that he scored a hat-trick for Uruguay against Mexico on Wednesday, and a positive Copa America would do him good.
Similarly, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai can’t help but take some credit from captaining their nation at a major tournament this summer.
So while the absence of Quansah and Jones from the England set-up could ultimately prove to be a blessing, that doesn’t mean Liverpool’s every involvement in international football this summer should be seen as a curse.