Photo: Steffen Prößdorf / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola has confirmed that Ryan Gravenberch, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz will link up with the squad during the second week of the club's two-week pre-season camp in the United States.
"The three players that are going to join us are going to be [in the] second week fully with us," Iraola told a press conference on Tuesday in the USA. "The ones that were [eliminated] from the World Cup they all – because of different reasons – have individual days for their arrivals, but I think the sooner we can start working with them and they can understand what we want from them the better."
Alisson Becker, Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk are on a comparable timetable but will begin training at the AXA Training Centre in Liverpool rather than travelling to North America to join the touring party.
Iraola cited Van Dijk's workload as a key factor in that 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 or even with younger players that are at the AXA and join us when we [return]."
Alexis Mac Allister and new signing Victor Munoz, both involved in Sunday's World Cup final between Argentina and Spain, will be the last players to return. Iraola acknowledged their late availability could affect Liverpool's Premier League opener against Newcastle United at St James' Park on August 23.
"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," the head coach said. "We cannot only think in the short term and the first game against Newcastle; we have to also understand, especially in the case of Alexis who played a lot of minutes during the season and a lot of minutes in the World Cup, that they deserve this rest."
Iraola added that the remainder of the squad should be available in full condition for the season opener. "All the others should be fine to arrive in perfect conditions to the first game."