Liverpool Receive Major Pre-Season Lift as Salah and Endo Confirmed to Stay

Liverpool will retain Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo for pre-season, alleviating initial concerns about their absence due to the Olympics. With the European Championship and Copa America already impacting Arne Slot’s pre-season plans, there were fears of further disruptions.

The Olympics, scheduled in Paris from July 26 to August 11, includes a football tournament featuring nations like Egypt, Japan, and Spain. This raised the possibility of Liverpool losing Salah, Endo, and Stefan Bajcetic at a crucial time.

However, as the deadline for final squad announcements approached on Wednesday, neither Salah nor Endo were selected. Bajcetic had already been omitted from Spain U23s, following discussions between Liverpool and the Egyptian and Japanese FAs.

Unlike the Euros and Copa America, clubs are not required to release players for the Olympics since it does not fall under FIFA rules. While Endo had hoped to join Japan, Liverpool has reached an agreement to keep him for Slot’s first pre-season as head coach.

This development is a significant boost for Liverpool, as Slot is keen to evaluate every player during the summer. Salah, Endo, and Bajcetic will report to the AXA Training Centre for pre-season on Friday and, barring injuries, will join the team for three warmup friendlies in the United States.

Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Ibrahima Konate, and Diogo Jota remain in Germany after leading their countries to the quarter-finals. At Copa America, Alisson, Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Diaz, and Darwin Nunez have also reached the quarter-finals.

Liverpool is guaranteed to see either Jota or Konate and either Alisson or Nunez return home after their respective quarter-final matches, as Portugal faces France and Brazil takes on Uruguay.