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With interest growing in Liverpool duo Sepp van den Berg and Nat Phillips, their involvement on the club’s pre-season tour could impact progress on any transfer.
Though he would be loath to admit it, this pre-season will be far from ideal for Arne Slot as his first summer in charge of Liverpool.
Neither will it be for those in the club’s new-look hierarchy, overseen by Michael Edwards and led by sporting director Richard Hughes and assistant David Woodfine.
With the majority of his key players still absent due to their involvement in summer internationals, Slot will head to the United States next week with a squad far from that expected to line up against Ipswich on August 17.
And with the Dutchman likely still not 100 percent on which players will stay and which will go, it is no surprise that Liverpool have been slow on the transfer front.
The situation has an impact on the futures of those who have been expected to depart, including defenders Van den Berg and Phillips.
Both spent last season out on loan and have been open in discussing a life away from Liverpool, with 22-year-old Van den Berg even suggesting that the club’s price tag was prohibiting his desired move.
PSV Eindhoven are among the sides interested in the Dutchman, who is valued at £20 million, while Turkish club Trabzonspor have seen a £4 million bid for Phillips rejected as the Reds seek at least double that.
Interest in the pair is concrete, but it is likely that neither will be permitted to leave Liverpool until later in the summer.
Slot’s squad will fly to Pittsburgh on Tuesday without Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez, while Joel Matip has been released.
That leaves Van den Berg and Phillips among the most experienced centre-backs available for the friendlies against Real Betis (July 27), Arsenal (August 1) and Man United (August 4) in the US.
Jarell Quansah is the only guaranteed first-team regular set to make the plane, while 17-year-old Amara Nallo is also expected to travel.
Liverpool have already elected to omit Rhys Williams, 23, and Billy Koumetio, 21, from first-team activity as they court interest from clubs in England, Scotland, Turkiye and France.
That leaves few other immediate options at centre-back, though the versatile Luke Chambers and Luca Stephenson could fill in at a push.
In short, Van den Berg and Phillips will be required to at the very least make up the numbers in the US, though there remains a chance the former earns an ongoing role under Slot.
The situation does not only affect those two players, of course, with agreements on loan deals for a number of youngsters also due to be delayed until later in the summer.
But despite overtures from interested parties, Liverpool are unlikely to push ahead with talks to sell Van den Berg and Phillips until senior centre-backs return in the first week of August.
At least one player could depart before then, though, with the club expected to sanction an exit for one midfielder left out of Friday’s friendly against Preston.
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