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With less than two weeks to go until the start of the new Premier League season, managers can finally start to plan with the return to training of those players given an extended break following Euro 2024 and Copa America.
10 clubs were in preseason action in the US this summer but many without the core of their first team, and while it gave youngsters and fringe players a chance to impress, some new managers have only just met their star players.
Liverpool were without eight first-teamers for their tour but the bulk of them have now returned to training and met with new boss Arne Slot for the first time.
Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander Arnold, Cody Gakpo, Joe Gomez, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez have all been undergoing medical and physical training at the club’s training base ahead of their trip to Ipswich on 17 August.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag will welcome the return of his international players if only to boost a squad containing several injury concerns already.
Diogo Dalot, Facundo Pellistri, Bruno Fernandes, Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Lisandro Martinez, Altay Bayindir and Alejandro Garnacho are all now back in training but it will be interesting to see who, if any, are ready to return to action in the Community Shield, which takes place on Saturday.
United’s opponents at Wembley are local rivals Manchester City, who will have eight more players back when the team return to training in Manchester on Tuesday.
Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Matheus Nunes, Nathan Ake and Manu Akanji have all returned and undergone their medical and fitness testing but again whether any will start at Wembley remains unlikely,
Arsenal have welcomed back England trio Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale as well as David Raya and William Saliba ahead of friendlies with Bayer Leverkusen and Olympique Lyonnaise on Wednesday and Sunday respectively.
Chelsea are yet to return from their US tour, with a final match against Real Madrid taking place at midnight on Tuesday, but one England player, yet to return and unlikely to be back at Stamford Bridge is Connor Gallagher who is set for a move to Atletico Madrid.
The Blues had accepted a £33m offer from the Spanish side last week and on Sunday Gallagher, 24, told Atletico officials he was happy to make the switch.
Elsewhere Crystal Palace’s England quartet of Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi, Dean Henderson and Adam Wharton all return this week ahead of Palace’s season opener at Brentford on 18 August. One player is still in international action though, with Jean-Philippe Mateta playing for France in this summer’s Olympic games.
The 27-year-old scored twice against Egypt in the semi-finals to put his country through to the Gold Medal match against Spain on Friday.
