Liverpool without 13 first-team stars as Reds confirm 28-man squad for USA trip

Arne Slot has confirmed his Liverpool squad for their pre-season tour of the United States, with the likes of captain Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold left off the list of travelling stars.

The pair lead the internationals who have been granted extended leave following their Euro 2024 and Copa America campaigns and will not be involved in matches against Real Betis, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate, Cody Gakpo, Alexis Mac Allister, Diogo Jota, Ryan Gravenberch, Alisson, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Bobby Clarke and Jayden Danns will all miss the trip Stateside.

Youngster Danns began his pre-season with the first team, but has been sidelined by a back injury that kept him out of the friendly defeat to Preston, and has stayed behind to focus on his rehabilitation. Clarke has also been suffering with a back injury since April and will be working with a team in Merseyside to recover fully.

There is hope that some of Liverpool’s internationals will join up with the squad during their pre-season tour, with Alisson and Jota thought to be most likely due to their country’s quarter-final eliminations.

Neither Gravenberch nor Konate played a single minute of the Netherlands or France’s Euros campaigns and could return early to get back to full fitness and build up rhythm ahead of Slot’s first season in charge at Anfield.

Slot has already had two weeks under his belt on Merseyside with those not involved with their countries this summer and after losing to Preston, is ready to up the intensity.

“I assume this (an increase in workload), but the resistance of the teams we play is strong,” Slot said. “We are trying to implement the ideas and keep doing what we have done so well. Keeping the boys fit, that’s the first aim. Those things are the first aim and then with all the players coming back I think the quality will definitely go up a lot as well and these two things – training sessions and boys coming back in – will help us to play even better than we did.

“It’s only two weeks in so if it was that easy to bring and to implement all your ideas in two weeks, that would have been an ideal situation but it doesn’t work like this! Like I said, the ones who came in from the start, they are still fit now, they have had two weeks of training sessions and stayed fit during the game so are getting fitter and fitter.

“But yeah, there are definitely more than a few areas where we have to improve but that will come with more sessions and it will definitely come when all the boys are in.”

Liverpool’s 28-man squad list in full reads: Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Kostas Tsimikas, Andy Robertson, Fabio Carvalho, Stefan Bajcetic, Callum Chambers, Marcelo Pitaluga, Nat Phillips, Kaide Gordon, Ben Doak, James McConnell, Viteslav Jaros, Caoimhin Kelleher, Owen Beck, Amara Nallo, Lewis Koumas, Sepp van den Berg. Jarell Quansah, Tyler Morton, Conor Bradley, Harvey Blair, Luca Stephenson, Trey Nyoni and Harvey Davies.