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Liverpool head into their pre-season tour of the United States without three long-term injury absentees, while two further players are nearing a return to group training, head coach Andoni Iraola confirmed on July 21.
Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike and Giovanni Leoni all remain sidelined. Bradley underwent surgery on a significant knee injury sustained away at Arsenal in January, Ekitike ruptured his Achilles tendon in April, and Leoni is recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament tear suffered during his debut in the 2025-26 campaign.
"In terms of order, I think the closest one to returning is Leoni. After will be Conor and Hugo. But especially the last two are still way off, we are talking about months and still a lot of time out," Iraola said.
Stefan Bajcetic and Wataru Endo are both edging closer to availability. Bajcetic missed the entire 2025-26 season and Endo was absent from Japan's World Cup squad, but both are expected to take part in training during the United States tour.
"We have Stefan and Wataru that are close to training with the group. They will start in this during this tour, training not fully maybe but partially with the group," Iraola said.
Ryan Gravenberch, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz are set to join the squad in the United States after their involvement at the World Cup. Iraola indicated all three would be fully integrated in the second week of the tour.
"Individually I talked with the three of them, they know the main things, but I am looking forward to having them here with the group and to go slowly, slowly with recovering bodies," the head coach added.
Alisson Becker, Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk will begin pre-season preparations at the AXA Training Centre in Liverpool rather than travelling to the United States at the outset. Iraola cited Van Dijk's high minute load as a key factor in the decision.
"Especially Virgil because he has been the player with most minutes in Europe I would say, and Cody for other reasons, they are going to start training basically in the same week as the others but instead of making them come here with the team, we considered that it was sensible with them to start the first week training with a small group," Iraola said.
Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz face the most constrained pre-season of all Liverpool's World Cup participants. Munoz's Spain defeated Mac Allister's Argentina in the final, leaving both players the last to return.
"I think they deserve their holidays and some rest also. I hope they have time to at least train with us a little bit, but it is true that it will probably affect the beginning of the season a little bit," Iraola said. He added that the club's opening fixture against Newcastle must not be the sole consideration when managing the pair's workload.