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Federico Chiesa was the most notable absentee from Liverpool's squad list for the pre-season tour of Asia, but there were a host of other players left out who might have expected to have been on the plane.
Jayden Danns was omitted, but his absence is believed to have been precautionary. Danns signed for Sunderland on loan for the second half of last season but a back injury detected during his medical saw him remain on Merseyside for treatment, and he ended up not making a single appearance for the Black Cats.
Youngsters Kieran Morrison, Tommy Pilling, Lewis Koumas and Amara Nallo were all in the Liverpool squad that faced Preston on July 13, but were omitted from the squad that traveled to Hong Kong.
Promising youngsters James McConnell and Stefan Bajcetic, meanwhile, are nursing minor injuries. Owen Beck, Calvin Ramsay and Rhys Williams were also left out; Beck is closing in on a loan move to Derby County, having been the subject of interest from Wrexham earlier on in the window.
Alexis Mac Allister was part of the squad that traveled to Hong Kong ahead of a friendly with AC Milan on Saturday, July 26. The Argentine has not played in either of the Reds' pre-season games so far, against Preston and Stoke City, after missing the final two games of last season due to injury.
Mac Allister had been training individually at Kirkby after Liverpool's players returned to pre-season training, but his inclusion in the tour squad suggests that Slot believes he could be ready to play some part against either Milan or Yokohama F. Marinos.
The Reds are scheduled to face Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan on Wednesday, July 30, before they return to England for back-to-back friendlies against Athletic Club on August 4.
Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz have traveled to Asia despite both players looking as though they could end up leaving Liverpool this summer.
Nunez scored a hat-trick on Sunday as Liverpool beat Stoke 5-0 in a behind-closed-doors friendly at the AXA Training Center. The Uruguayan lined up at the tip of a front four which also included Rio Ngumoha, Mohamed Salah and Florian Wirtz; Ngumoha also scored.
With Liverpool leading 4-0 at half-time, Slot carried out 11 planned changes, one of which saw Chiesa enter the field. Chiesa's absence from the tour squad has been put down to a slight fitness issue.
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