The Liverpool team are set for their pre-season tour of Germany, with winger Sadio Mane included to take part as one of the 30-man squad. The African star returned from injury as he fully trained with his teammates for the first time.
Danny Ings will also be touring Germany with his mates after returning from injury as well. He also featured in the first full training with the team on Tuesday. The player was ruled out for the whole season last October due to a knee injury he sustained, but has finally returned, a little ahead of schedule.
Former Southampton star Mane injured his knee in April, cutting short his Reds debut. He provided spark in the attack of the club in the first part of the season but had to leave for the African Nations Cup in January. The team sorely missed him and he returned to contribute from his first game. The injury affected Liverpool in the final few weeks before the season was to end. The team had to make a serious push for a last four finish ahead of the Gunners.
Whilst Mane could feature at the Olympiastadion against Hertha Berlin over the weekend, Ings is expected to feature later in the Germany tour as there are planned games against Bayern Munich, and either of Atletico Madrid or Napoli as part of the Audi Cup – which Liverpool are second favourites to win according to the guys at NetBet, behind only Bayern Munich in the current running.
Klopp’s squad list saw Lazar Markovic, Sheyi Ojo and Mamadou Sakho missing amid speculation that they were exiting the club soon. James Milner, who was injured in the Asia tour, was included. Jordan Henderson, Emre Can and even latest signing Andy Robertson was added. Other summer additions Dominic Solanke and Mohammed Salah were also named for the tour.
Another person set to return to first team action in Jurgen Klopp’s side is Joe Gomez, who rejoined training with the first team in the latter stages of the previous season but was straightaway let known by the head coach that he would have to bring a change in his shape if he had to feature in the Reds’ line up, as he was carrying too much weight to be the nippy fullback Klopp wanted him to be.
Since the time of the arrival of Klopp, Gomez never had a long run for Liverpool – and that’s not because the coach does not rate him as a player, but because he has had back to back injuries in the last one and half years. Now he is back and looks free from any injury at this point of time and, more importantly, he seems to have taken Klopp’s advice seriously – seeing him from close now, you can see that he is lighter in comparison to what he was.
Klopp will be hoping to try him in different roles in that Tour, playing him on the right of defence and in the middle of defence as well, as cover for Liverpool’s multi-fronted challenge in the Premier League and Champions League this season.
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