Liverpool manager Arne Slot is hoping for a successful pre-season campaign.
Liverpool will see the return of Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo for pre-season training, as neither player was selected by their national teams for the Olympics. This gives Arne Slot the advantage of having both players available for the entire pre-season.
The Olympic football tournament, primarily for U23 teams with a few overage players, will feature Egypt and Japan, but neither Salah nor Endo have been chosen by their countries.
Since the Olympic football event is not sanctioned by FIFA, clubs have the right to refuse player call-ups. As a result, young midfielder Stefan Bajcetic will also not be participating for Spain in the tournament, which runs from July 24 to August 10.
Salah and Endo will join Liverpool’s tour of America later this month, allowing Slot to familiarize them with his preferred system.
The Dutch manager is eager to work with his top players from the outset of pre-season to ensure a strong start to the upcoming Premier League campaign.
Liverpool depart for Pittsburgh on July 23 and will face Real Betis three days afterward. The Reds also have matches against Premier League rivals Arsenal and Liverpool Stateside.
Slot will be introduced to the Anfield crowd for the first time when Liverpool host Sevilla a week before their season opener against Ipswich.
Slot believes he has inherited a highly talented squad from Jurgen Klopp and aims to maximize these 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.”
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