Florian Wirtz absence explained as 5 fellow signings could make Liverpool debut vs Preston

Liverpool record signing Florian Wirtz is not involved in the squad for the first pre-season friendly of the summer against Preston North End.

The German who joined from Bayer Leverkusen for a whopping $157 million (£116 million), is among several players not included in today's squad, alongside captain Virgil van Dijk, defender Ibrahima Konate, midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and winger Luis Diaz.

Several senior Liverpool players not participating in today's match have been undergoing individual training sessions back at Kirkby. Given the disruption to Liverpool's pre-season preparations, no chances are being taken with player fitness.

The match is Liverpool's first since the death of Diogo Jota with players understood to have been given the option to be involved.

Giorgi Mamardashvili is set to make his Liverpool debut in the opening pre-season friendly. Mamardashvili is the sole summer signing starting the match at Deepdale.

Other new recruits Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, along with keepers Freddie Woodman and Armin Pesci, will be on the bench.

Mohamed Salah is the standout name in the starting line-up at Deepdale, with Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai filling the deeper midfield positions.

Conor Bradey and Kostas Tsimikas will feature as right-back and left-back respectively, while Joe Gomez is expected to partner young talent Luca Stephenson in central defence.

Federico Chiesa will spearhead the attack, flanked by youngsters Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni, who will play on the left wing and in the number 10 role respectively.

Stefan Bajcetic is currently sidelined due to injury, while both Harvey Elliott and Tyler Morton are enjoying an extended break after their contribution to England's successful defence of the UEFA European Under-21 Championships.

LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Mamardashvili; Bradley, Gomez, Stephenson, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nyoni, Ngumoha; Chiesa.

Subs: Woodman, Pecsi, Endo, Nunez, Jones, Gakpo, Robertson, Doak, Kerkez, Frimpong, Nallo, Koumas, Morrison, Pilling.

Story Saved

You can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.