Five days after the first group of players returned for pre-season, Mo Salah and Wataru Endo reported to the AXA Training Centre for the first time this summer.
Arne Slot kickstarted pre-season on Friday with a small group of players, with fitness tests on the agenda before a 30-man squad assembled on Sunday for ball work on the outdoor pitches.
Salah and Endo were notable absentees throughout, having been given a slightly extended break after competing for Egypt and Japan soon after the conclusion of the 2023/24 season.
Liverpool’s No. 11 featured for 180 minutes and Endo just 62 in mid-June, but after a taxing domestic season that saw them both feature in the Reds’ top 10 for minutes played, a break was needed.
The two have been off for close to four weeks, and have now got stuck into work with their new head coach and members of his staff for the first time.
Welcome back, Mo and Wataru ? pic.twitter.com/PvOrJdwraQ
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 10, 2024
The duo’s presence in training boosts the number of senior players present – with many of Slot’s key men still on duty at the Euros and Copa America.
Alexis Mac Allister is the first Liverpool player to have booked his place in the final of Copa America with Argentina, with one of Colombia’s Luis Diaz or Uruguay’s Darwin Nunez set to join him.
Meanwhile, either England, who include Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez in the squad, or Netherlands, who have Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo, will reach the Euros final.
Why many key players will be late back
Ibrahima Konate was knocked out with France on Tuesday night, and with no third-placed playoff held at the Euros his post-season break will now begin.
That will not be the case for whoever is knocked out of the Colombia vs. Uruguay semi-final on Wednesday, however, as they are then set to face Canada on Friday night.
Alisson, Diogo Jota, Andy Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai and goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros, meanwhile, are already on their summer breaks and will either report back at the end of this month or early August.
Players will be granted a minimum of three weeks off after the end of international duty, meaning many could miss the bulk of Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States.
