Neil Critchley’s under-23s are scheduled to emulate the same training regime as Jürgen Klopp’s senior side in this year’s pre-season to make sure successful, young Reds can make the step up if they impress.
The club’s prospects have already reported for duty at the Kirkby training complex and yesterday saw them put through their paces ahead of the upcoming 2019/20 season.
“We try to follow their programme as much as possible – the training times, the amount of training they do,” Critchley revealed to the club’s official website.
“That’s what we’re preparing our boys for, the next step.
“Maybe some of our players will get the opportunity to go to Melwood and train. If we are not working closely to how they work – in terms of the loading and the training – then we’re setting our boys up to fail.
“We carry out our testing and then build up the level of training and fitness, quickly introduce them into games.
“The boys look after themselves during the summer, so you can get the footballs out pretty quickly and get into the games pretty quickly. They’re all going to get an opportunity to play.
“With the U23s, the nature of the group that we’ve got, they’ll all have different types of ambitions and goals – and managing that is my job.
“But with the group we’ve got this season, I’m looking forward to working with the players.”
At the Academy, the hope is that the likes of Curtis Jones, Adam Lewis, Ki-Jana Hoever, and Isaac Christie-Davies can knuckle down using the same tactical ideas as the first-team and push for promotion to Melwood in their Liverpool careers.
After the Reds made early exits from both cup competitions in the 2018/19 season, perhaps extended participation in the FA Cup and League Cup in the coming campaign could possibly see some of the leading lights of the U23 squad called up for duty under Klopp’s watchful eye.