Arne Slot could have been handed a blow to his pre-season preparations by one member of his Liverpool squad.
The presence of quite a few Reds gamers at Euro 2024 and the Copa America implies that he could not get the prospect to work with a few of them till late July or probably early August, and even then the disruption from worldwide tournaments mightn’t have ceased.
The boys’s soccer occasion on the Olympic Video games takes place in Paris from 24 July to 9 August, concluding simply over every week earlier than the beginning of the Premier League season, and Wataru Endo has voiced his want to characterize Japan on the competitors if he’s known as up as an overage participant.
Speakin to Japanese outlet ABEMA Sports activities Time (by way of Liverpool Echo), the 31-year-old stated relating to his potential involvement on the Olympics: “I’m additionally form of questioning what’s going to occur. Nothing has been determined but, however my stance is that if I’m chosen, I’d wish to go.”
READ MORE: ‘If that have been the case…’ – Virgil van Dijk calmly bats off newest criticism from Dutch media
READ MORE: Liverpool set to delay resolution on 21y/o who Firmino dubbed a ‘star’; three EPL golf equipment hovering
Endo’s potential participation on the Olympics isn’t what Slot would’ve wished, particularly as the brand new head coach will get to grips with the squad that he’s inherited forward of his first season answerable for Liverpool.
Because the event in Paris falls outdoors a delegated FIFA worldwide window, golf equipment aren’t obliged to launch their gamers for it, so theoretically Anfield chiefs might veto the midfielder’s involvement on the Video games.
Observe Empire of the Kop on Instagram (@empireofthekop) HERE
Nonetheless, depriving a participant of his want to characterize his nation might danger discommoding them and trigger injury in the long term. Additionally, in contrast to the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup in the beginning of 2024 (the 31-year-old featured within the latter), this competitors doesn’t conflict straight with Premier League motion.
Slot would clearly choose to have Endo in his squad for Liverpool’s pre-season preparations, though he might nonetheless have been contemplating giving game-time to the likes of Stefan Bajcetic and Tyler Morton to evaluate their readiness for aggressive minutes as soon as the marketing campaign begins in earnest.
From our perspective, in fact we’d somewhat not lose the Japanese midfielder to the Olympics, however whether it is to occur, then we simply hope that he’d return from Paris with out struggling any knocks which’d rule him out of motion for this membership.
EOTK Shut-up with John Welsh: ‘a neighborhood lad who lived his dream’ and Slot’s LFC predictions
