Andoni Iraola confirms three Liverpool stars will join pre-season tour | OneFootball

Andoni Iraola Clarifies Liverpool Return Dates for Wirtz, Isak and World Cup Stars

Andoni Iraola has started where any sensible head coach starts, with the calendar, the workload and the reality of modern football. Liverpool are in pre-season, the squad is split by summer commitments and the new man at Anfield has made it clear there will be no rush with players returning from the World Cup.

The key names are obvious. Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch are expected to link up with the squad in the United States during the second week of the tour. That gives Iraola time to get them into the group, and more importantly, time to get them physically right.

He put it plainly: “The three players (Gravenberch, Isak and Wirtz) that are going to join us are going to be [in the] second week fully with us.” That is the headline. Clear enough, no spin, no fake mystery.

Liverpool pre-season schedule takes shape

Liverpool’s World Cup players were knocked out between June 29 and 30, which left some room for interpretation over whether they would return midway through the US trip. Iraola has now shut that down with a structured plan. He said, “The ones that were [eliminated] from the World Cup, they all – because of different reasons – have individual days for their arrivals, but I think the sooner we can start working with them and they can understand what we want from them the better.”

That matters. New ideas take repetition. New pressing triggers, distances, and responsibilities do not appear by magic. Iraola has already spoken to the players individually and said, “Individually I talked with the three of them, they know the main things, but I am looking forward to having them here with the group and to go slowly, slowly with recovering bodies [to the squad].”

Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo managed carefully

There is a separate plan for Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Alisson Becker. They will return on similar dates, but not in the same setting. Instead of travelling immediately with the touring group, they will begin work back at the AXA Training Centre.

Iraola explained: “They (Alisson Becker, Gakpo and Van Dijk) will, in terms of dates of training, be very similar but they will start training at the AXA in Liverpool.” He then added the logic, “Because of different reasons, especially Virgil because he has been the player with most minutes in Europe I would say, and Cody for other reasons, they are going to start training basically in the same week as the others but instead of making them come here with the team, we considered that it was sensible with them to start the first week training with a small group or even with younger players that are at the AXA and join us when we [return].”

World Cup impact could affect Newcastle opener

The biggest concern is with Alexis Mac Allister and Munoz, who went deepest into the tournament. Iraola is realistic about it. “In the end, I think the most difficult situations logically will be Alexis and Victor because they played until the end of the tournament, so I think they deserve their holidays and some rest also.”

He did not hide the possible consequence either: “I hope they have time to at least train with us a little bit, but it is true that it will probably affect the beginning of the season a little bit.”

That includes Newcastle. Iraola’s final point was the correct one. “We cannot only think in the short term and the first game against Newcastle; we have to also understand, especially in the case of Alexis, who played a lot of minutes during the season and a lot of minutes in the World Cup, that they deserve this rest. All the others should be fine to arrive in perfect conditions to the first game.” Liverpool pre-season is now mapped out. The issue is not availability, it is conditioning.