Things spotted in Liverpool training as three players absent but 12 new faces involved

Liverpool’s pre-season training has continued this afternoon.

Some members of the Reds squad reassembled at the AXA Training Centre on Saturday as preparations for the 2023-24 campaign got underway. First-team members included Adrian, Stefan Bajcetic, Fabinho Joe Gomez, Joel Matip, Darwin Nunez, Nat Phillips and Thiago Alcantara.

The majority of Jurgen Klopp’s side are set to rejoin their team-mates tomorrow.

But as Liverpool prepare to jet off for a training camp in Germany later this week, several players were put through their paces on Monday. From the photos uploaded by Liverpool’s media team, here’s what we spotted from the latest session.

More players return 

The likes of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold aren’t due to report back to Liverpool until Tuesday.

But there were sundry members of the under-21s who were all called up to training to rub shoulders with Nunez and Co. In total, 11 new faces were spotted.

They included Ben Doak, who made an electric impact after signing from Celtic last summer. The 17-year-old made five appearances for Klopp’s side while he recorded 13 goals and eight assists at under-18, under-19 and under-21 level.

Tyler Morton, who spent last season on loan at Blackburn Rovers, has also reassembled but did not train. He suffered a fractured metatarsal in April.

Marcelo Pitiluga, Vitezslav Jaros, Fabian Mrozek, Jarrell Qaunsah, Lewis Koumas, Bobby Clark, Dominic Corness, Harvey Blair, Layton Stewart and Melkamu Frauendorf were also among those present.

Trio missing

Klopp’s side were put to work with the ball at their feet at a rainy AXA. The days of an arduous fitness regime for the first week of pre-season are long gone.

But three players who returned on Saturday could not be spotted. Only Nunez, Gomez, Matip and Fabinho took part in the infamous lactate test last weekend. Bajcetic, Thiago nor Phillips did not.

Bajcetic is currently working his way back from an adductor he suffered in March. Meanwhile, Thiago required hip surgery in April and he may not yet be fully fit.

Phillips, meanwhile, was in the gym on Saturday but not involved. It is unclear if the centre-back is suffering from injury.

Schadtke watches on

Liverpool made a key backroom change over the summer. Julian Ward departed from his role as sporting director and Jorg Schmadtke took over the mantle.

The German has already been hard at work. Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have been recruited for a combined £90 million, which means there’s been little time for Schmadtke to be eased into his role. With the Reds still potentially looking at bringing in a third midfielder and an additional defender, it could still prove to be a busy couple of weeks for the former Wolfsburg chief.

But Schmadtke took the opportunity to watch over the session from the sidelines. He’ll likely be looking forward to seeing Mac Allister and Szoboszlai in action like plenty of supporters when they report for their first day of duty as Liverpool players.