Liverpool will be without Andy Robertson for their US pre-season tour matches against Real Betis, Arsenal and Manchester United.
New Reds boss Arne Slot addressed the media in Pittsburgh on Thursday ahead of Friday night’s opener against the LaLiga outfit at Acrisure Stadium, which is followed by heavyweight clashes next week with Premier League rivals in Philadelphia and Columbia, South Carolina respectively.
Liverpool will be without Robertson for all three of those matches, with the experienced left-back still working his way back from an ankle issue sustained during Scotland’s short-lived campaign at Euro 2024 in Germany earlier this summer.
"He is not fully fit yet,” Slot said of Robertson, who did make the trip to America. “But we are expecting him in the end of the tour – maybe just after the tour – to be fully fit again.
"He took a small injury into the Euros and afterwards he had to recover from that after playing those games. But we will expect him back after our tour – but he joined us over here."
Depleted Liverpool are already without 11 senior players in the US, with captain Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Darwin Nunez, Alisson Becker, Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Diaz, Ibrahima Konate and Diogo Jota all currently on holiday following their respective international exertions at Euro 2024 and the recent Copa America tournament.
Such a raft of key absences led to Slot naming a very youthful squad to tour the US, with chances for a whole host of youngsters including Luke Chambers, Marcelo Pitaluga, Kaide Gordon, Owen Beck, Amara Nallo, Lewis Koumas, Tyler Morton, Harvey Blair, Luca Stephenson, Harvey Davies and Trey Nyoni.
However, Jota looks set to be available to face Arsenal and Manchester United as he prepares to join his team-mates Stateside later on Thursday, while Konate and Gravenberch are also poised to arrive later in the tour.
However, the rest of Liverpool’s absent group will not return until the squad is back on Merseyside, where they host Sevilla in a final friendly at Anfield on August 11 before beginning the new Premier League season away at newly-promoted Ipswich a week later.
“Diogo is arriving today I think, so he will have his testing day tomorrow and the day after he will join us in the session,” Slot said on Thursday.
“And I think it’s Ibou [Konate] and Ryan that will join us later in the trip. I don’t think I have forgotten anyone. The rest will start after the trip when we are back in Liverpool.”
On first-choice goalkeeper Alisson, Slot added: “I think he will start also in Liverpool when we’re back.”
