Liverpool could be set to alter their usual pre-season itinerary under Jurgen Klopp for the summer of 2023.
As per Liverpool Echo, the Reds boss has typically preferred a streamlined operation at certain locations around Europe after the squad has been further afield, usually in North America or eastern Asia.
However, in a reversal of the pre-season tradition under the 55-year-old, it’s been suggested that the first team may start their plans for 2023/24 in Europe before then jetting outside the continent, with a second successive summer visit to Singapore being mooted.
It’s worth noting that, as stated in the Liverpool Echo, the club have not finalised any of their summer travel plans as of yet, not are details likely to be confirmed publicly for another few weeks at least.
However, if the Reds were to go outside of Europe for the latter part of their pre-season, it would likely get Klopp’s approval, based on comments he made earlier this year.
After his squad began last summer’s preparations in the Far East before returning to Europe, the German admitted [via Liverpool Echo]: “I wouldn’t go, in the first week, to Asia. Not because Asia is not great, but I would go to Asia in the third week, or something like that, but it was not in really in our hands.”
Planning a pre-season programme usually brings with it the conflicting priorities of getting the players in prime condition for the campaign ahead without overburdening them with excessive travel, and capitalising on Liverpool’s global fan base with lucrative visits to all corners of the world.
However, with the Reds looking visibly less energetic in 2022/23 than in previous years under Klopp, and the manager himself hinting that it may ‘have been better to do [last summer’s pre-season] differently’, it’s surely worth listening to his views on the matter when plotting the itinerary for July and early August.