Liverpool given major boost as Arne Slot avoids pre-season stumbling block

Liverpool FC will welcome back Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo for pre-season training after neither were called up by their countries to play at the Olympics. Arne Slot will be boosted by the chance to have a full pre-season with the duo.

Egypt and Japan will play at the Olympics, which is effectively an U23 tournament in which only a select few older players take part. Neither Salah nor Endo have been called up by their respective nations.

The Olympic football tournament is not a FIFA-sanctioned competition and clubs are therefore allowed to veto call-ups. Young midfielder Stefan Bajcetic will also not play for Spain at the tournament, which runs from July 24 to August 10.

Salah and Endo will be available for Liverpool’s tour of America later this month, meaning Slot can bring them up to speed in his preferred system. The Dutchman will be keen to work with his best players from the very beginning of pre-season, in a bid to make a positive start to the new Premier League campaign.

Liverpool fly to Pittsburgh on July 23 and face Real Betis three days later. The Reds also play against Premier League rivals Arsenal and Liverpool Stateside. Slot will be introduced to the Anfield crowd for the first time when the Merseysiders host Sevilla a week before they open the new season against Ipswich.

Slot feels that he has inherited an extremely talented squad from Jurgen Klopp. He will hope to make the most of his resources during pre-season.

The former Feyenoord head coach told Liverpool’s official channels: “Jurgen left the club in a really good place, left the team in a really good place. I think we have a lot of quality and the way they played last season was already impressive, so we are going to build from there.

“Of course, you want to take some people with you as well because they know who you are, they know your playing style and they can translate this to the other people in the staff as well. But if you go to a club like Liverpool, you can assume – and I already noticed that – that there are a lot of good people working here as well.

“So, we are going to use hopefully the best of both worlds to implement a few things from us and to use the knowledge that is inside this club already because of the nine years Jurgen and his staff worked here.”