Florian Wirtz surprisingly did not play in Liverpool’s first pre-season friendly at Preston North End on Sunday.
The most expensive footballer in Premier League history was expected to make his unofficial Liverpool debut at Deepdale following his £116million transfer from Bayer Leverkusen.
The first of four pre-season games, the football was secondary however with this the first Liverpool match since the death of forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva.
A number of emotional tributes were paid to the brothers ahead of kick-off with both sets of players wearing black armbands.
In regards to the line-up, Arne Slot picked a starting XI mixed with youngsters and first-team stars like Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah.
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Giorgi Mamardashvili, who signed in 2024 but spent last season on loan back at Valencia, started in goal, marking his first appearance for the Reds.
Summer signings Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Freddie Woodman and Armin Pesc were named on the bench.
But Wirtz, who will wear the No.58 shirt during pre-season until all the squad numbers are confirmed, was a surprise absentee from the matchday squad.
There was concern from fans that the attacking midfielder had picked up an injury before his Anfield career had even begun.
However, according to the Liverpool Echo, a number of players, Wirtz included, are instead taking part in individual training sessions back at the Kirkby training centre.
Liverpool team vs Preston
Liverpool starting XI vs Preston: Mamardashvili; Bradley, Stephenson, Gomez, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nyoni, Ngumoha; Chiesa
Subs: Woodman, Pecsi, Endo, Nunez, Jones, Gakpo, Robertson, Doak, Kerkez, Frimpong, Nallo, Koumas, Morrison, Pilling
Following Jota’s passing, players were given extended leave before returning to training and as such not every player was fully fit for Sunday’s encounter with no risks to be taken.
Captain Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz were other notable players to miss the friendly.
Speaking ahead of the match, Slot paid tribute to Jota and encouraged his players to be true to themselves just as their beloved teammate always was.
‘Nothing seems to be important if we think of what has happened,’ said the Reds boss. ‘But we are a football club and we need to train and we need to play again, if we want it or not.
‘I’ve said to them [the players], maybe the best thing for us to do is handle this situation like Jota was. And what I meant with that is that Jota was always himself, it didn’t matter if he was talking to me, to his teammates, to the staff, he was always himself.
‘So let us try to be ourselves as well. So, if we want to laugh we laugh; if we want to cry we’re going to cry. If they want to train they can train, if they don’t want to train they can not train.
‘But be yourself, don’t think you have to be different than your emotions tell you.’
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