Welcome to your Liverpool FC morning digest for Tuesday, July 11.
Colwill and Lavia interest marks a change in strategy
One of the most quoted post-retirement musings of Alex Feguson has been his belief that a great team has a cycle of just four years. If Ferguson's general rule of thumb is an accurate one, it's fair to suggest Jurgen Klopp is now more than a significant way through the rebuilding of what is hoped to be his second great Liverpool team.
Between the years of 2018 and 2022, the Reds won every top-level trophy available and they recorded Premier League points tallies of 97, 99 and 92 in three out of four seasons. Add in the UEFA Super Cup and a Community Shield during that time and that four-year cycle was a glittering one for all concerned.
READ MORE: Liverpool make subtle switch in transfer pursuit of Levi Colwill and Romeo Lavia
READ MORE: Xabi Alonso may have hinted at Liverpool alternative if they can't sign Levi Colwill
The arrivals of Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Sozoboszlai have helped lower the average age of the squad that began last season as the joint oldest in the division, alongside Chelsea, at 28.7 years. The 2-2 draw with Fulham on August 6 saw Klopp name as many as six players in their 30s.
Liverpool prefer their big-money arrivals to have played somewhere between 150 and 200 senior games by the time they move to the club, which Szoboszlai and Mac Allister both fit into. But Romeo Lavia and Levi Colwill, however, are fledglings by comparison.
You can read the full story HERE.
Four stars absent as Reds begin their preparations for the new campaign
Liverpool are back. Well, at least some of Jurgen Klopp's squad have returned to the AXA Training Centre.
With the majority of the international players not due to reconvene until Tuesday, it was a mixture of select senior players and a host of youngsters who were put through their paces at Kirkby on Monday afternoon.
There were only a handful of first-team squad regulars on display, with centre-backs Joe Gomez and Fabinho joined by striker Darwin Nunez and goalkeeper Adrian.
Indeed, a number of senior players were notable by their absence. Nat Phillips wasn't involved, while Thiago Alcantara and teenager Stefan Bajcetic continued elsewhere their individual rehabilitation programmes after injury ended their previous campaigns prematurely.
And Calvin Ramsay, another who was snapped at the weekend as the returning players were put through the usual fitness tests, was similarly absent as he prepares for a season-long loan move to Championship side Preston North End.
You can read the full story HERE.
