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13 Liverpool stars face missing start of Arne Slot's first pre-season as opening games confirmed

Arne Slot looks on from the sidelines during Feyenoord's clash with NEC Nijmegen
Arne Slot could be without some of his biggest names for his first training session at Liverpool -Credit:Getty Images


With just a few days remaining in the reign of Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool, the new era at Anfield will soon be getting underway. Arne Slot though may have to wait a little while longer to meet some of his new squad.

Klopp will bring the curtain down on nearly nine years in charge of Liverpool on Sunday, with his final game coming against Wolves. Thereafter, the German will be handing the reins over to Slot.

It looks to just be a matter of time before the current Feyenoord boss is confirmed as the Reds’ new head coach. The 45-year-old has made no secret of the fact that he will be making the move to Anfield.

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And it won’t be long before he’s taking charge of his first training session at the AXA Training Centre. Some of Liverpool’s biggest stars might not be there to greet him though.

It’s set to be a busy summer in the footballing world, with both Euro 2024 and the Copa América taking place across June and July. As many as 13 of Liverpool’s players could be involved in the two tournaments.

One player who will definitely be flying out to the United States this summer is Alisson Becker, with Brazil’s squad already confirmed. Liverpool’s number one goalkeeper will almost certainly be joined by Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Díaz and Darwin Núñez, with Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay yet to confirm their squads.

And while the Reds’ South American contingent will be going for glory, some of the club’s European stars will also be hunting down some international silverware in Germany. Six countries look to have Liverpool representatives at this summer’s Euros.

Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo should make Ronald Koeman’s squad for the Netherlands, while Ryan Gravenberch might be an outside bet to join them. Trent Alexander-Arnold will surely be in Gareth Southgate’s England squad, and he could be joined by Joe Gomez.

Elsewhere, Ibrahima Konaté will likely be representing France, while Dominik Szoboszlai will be leading Hungary at the tournament. Andy Robertson and Diogo Jota should also be there for Scotland and Portugal respectively, assuming neither suffer any ill-effects from their recent injuries.

The finals of the two tournaments both take place on July 14, with at least one or two of Liverpool’s players standing a good chance of being involved. Regardless of who reaches the final though, the club’s international stars will almost certainly be given some time off before reporting back for training on Merseyside.

The date of Slot’s first training session hasn’t yet been revealed. The Reds reported back for duty on July 8 last summer, while the club’s international players returned three days later.

With Liverpool’s first game of its pre-season tour of the US against Real Betis taking place on July 26 in Pittsburgh, Slot won’t get much time with his new squad before having to prepare them for action. Games against Arsenal (July 31) and Manchester United (August 3) follow in Philadelphia and South Carolina respectively.