The sight of Joe Gomez matching James Milner in the running exercises that are a hallmark of Liverpool's first day of pre-season will have been a welcome one for supporters.
Having taken part in the Uefa Nations League with England earlier this summer, the 22-year-old was in fact entitled to delay his return to Melwood until later this month.
However, he made an early appearance on Saturday hoping to make up for lost time after missing much of the second half of last season with a broken leg sustained at Burnley in December.
The defender then went stride-for-stride with vice-captain Milner during the lactate test - a running drill designed to assess the player's fitness levels after their time off.
Asked about his impressive showing, Gomez told the club's official website: "It’s probably as strenuous as it can get – it’s a maximal test, you go until you can’t go anymore.
"Everyone knows how fit Millie is, he’s a machine, but I tried to do as much as I could in the off-season to come back as fit as possible.
"It’s nice to be up there competing with him, to get to that stage, but Millie speaks for himself!
"Obviously it is as intense as you’d expect when you first come back, a lot of running and dusting the cobwebs off. But it feels good, it’s nice to be back.
"It was nice to end on such a high last season and we just want to carry on where we left off and keep the momentum going."
Last season saw Gomez lift his first piece of silverware since arriving at Anfield in 2015 as Liverpool beat Tottenham to clinch Champions League glory.
But that success hasn't sated the desire in the dressing room, the Englishman revealed, particularly after a near miss in the Premier League last term.
He added: "[The manager] said that this morning in the meeting. We can be happy and proud of the achievement but we’ve got so much more work to do and so many ways to improve as well.
"The Premier League was so close and I think that’s all the motivation we need, that we were so close but so far at the same time in the fact that we didn’t get it.
"It’s something we want to get this year and to do so we can’t get complacent or dwell on what happened last season, we have to hit the ground running again now."
Joel Matip's impressive form ensured Gomez was unable to reclaim his place at centre-back after recovering from the leg break that ended his own strong start to the season.
But the former Charlton starlet believes his versatility could help him find a route back into the starting XI in the early stages of this campaign.
He continued: I’ve played a number of positions over the years I’ve been here. I like to excel in one and nail that spot but I’m happy to play wherever for the team and the manager.
"It’s just about development in whatever way I can and doing all the extra bits I can to develop off the pitch as well as on it. Hopefully things fall into place.
"This is my fifth season now and I’ve had a lot of experience at the club and learned a lot here. But I’m still so young, I’ve got so much left to learn. I’ve got to keep developing, keep progressing and stay hungry."
