Diogo Jota has revealed that Liverpool's pre-season friendly with Manchester United in Bangkok on Tuesday afternoon will come too soon for him as he continues to recover from a hamstring issue he picked on international duty.
Jota was granted additional vacation time over the summer due to his commitments with Portugal in Nations League following Liverpool's Champions League defeat to Real Madrid in Paris, and therefore only linked up with his teammates on Saturday afternoon when the Reds flew out to Thailand.
The squad had their first training session in the humidity of Southeast Asia on Sunday evening, which was Jota's first session since returning to his club duties, and they will face their Premier League foes Manchester United on Tuesday afternoon at the Rajamangala Stadium, which the 25-year-old has said he won't play a part in.
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"Yeah, a hamstring injury [in] the last game with Portugal, very unlucky!" said Jota while speaking to Liverpoolfc.com.
"But it happened and I just had the summer to recover well and start the pre-season at 100 per cent.
"[The game] probably too soon. As well, because I was with the national team I just came back yesterday as well, so I still need to do the last steps to be 100 per cent with the team so probably that is too soon. But I will be ready very, very soon.
"Obviously, the national team players had these extra days which were very important as well. I think we all had the opportunity to relax, to start again, to do a little reset and be ready to go again. I think this season could be similar, hopefully, and we need to be ready and of course with the World Cup in between as well [during] the season, that will be an extra factor… so hopefully there is a good season ahead."
The former Porto and Atletico Madrid man also revealed how excited he is to see new signing Darwin Nunez in the red of Liverpool after he completed a potential club-record transfer to Anfield last month: "I follow the Portuguese league obviously and what he [Nunez] did last year was amazing. It is not as easy as people might think!
"He scored loads of goals, including in the Champions League and against us, so I think we can expect that from him. Hopefully, he can have the same impact that Luis [Diaz] had last year because that will be important for us."
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