Chicago Is as Much a Recovery Ward as a Training Camp for Liverpool
Chicago is not just a training base this summer, it is also a rehabilitation ward. Liverpool have touched down in the United States with a 31-man travelling party, and while most of the talk around a pre-season tour is usually about fresh legs and new signings bedding in, a fair chunk of this trip is actually about managing bodies that are still a long way from full fitness.
Andoni Iraola has taken a blended group across the Atlantic, mixing first-team regulars with academy players, while a separate cluster of World Cup participants, including Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, Alisson, Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz, will join later once their extended summers allow.
Two long term absences dominate the picture
The more pressing story concerns the walking wounded who have travelled without being remotely close to selection. Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Wataru Endo and Stefan Bajcetic have all made the trip, continuing their rehabilitation programmes alongside the group rather than sitting it out on Merseyside.
Iraola did not sugarcoat where things stand. He described Bradley, Ekitike and Leoni as significant injuries that will take months rather than weeks to resolve, while indicating Endo and Bajcetic are much closer, likely to begin partial training with the squad at some point during the American leg of the trip.
Asked directly about the pecking order for a return, the head coach placed Leoni as the nearest of the three long term absentees, with Bradley and Ekitike still someway further back. Our takeaway from that is straightforward: do not expect either of Liverpool’s two most talked about absentees back in contention any time soon, this is a multi month rehabilitation rather than a matter of a couple of friendlies.
What this means for the tour itself
Liverpool’s stay in Chicago runs for two weeks and includes friendlies against Sunderland, Wrexham and Leeds United, giving Iraola a genuine chance to assess fitness levels across the group before the serious business of the Premier League opener arrives. For the walking wounded travelling with the squad, though, the value is less about minutes on the pitch and more about staying close to the medical and coaching staff while their bodies catch up.
It is a sensible approach even if it will not produce eye catching headlines from Chicago. Keeping the injured group embedded with the squad rather than isolated back home means fitness work and reintegration can be managed under one roof, with Iraola able to keep eyes on every unavailable player rather than relying on updates filtered back from a physio room thousands of miles away.
The frustrating reality for supporters is that patience remains the operative word. Some of this squad are building towards genuine sharpness in Chicago. Others are simply along for the ride while the recovery clock keeps ticking.