Liverpool’s pre-season continued yesterday, on Friday the 11th of July, and despite the recent announcement of the sale of their main man, Luis Suárez, to the Spanish club Barcelona, the team spirit still appeared to be high judging from the smiling faces shown in the pre-season photos that were released from Melwood this morning.
It is no doubt that when a club loses such an influential player as Suárez, the team morale is expected to drop. However, it was refreshing to see that the rest of the players were ready to battle on, and face up to what is expected to be another rollercoaster of a season for Liverpool Football Club, even if Luis Suárez was no longer set to grace the Anfield turf.
With players such as Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge still resting after playing in the World Cup for England, it gave an opportunity for new players such as Emre Can to start finding their feet at the club, and young players such as João Teixeira to begin to adapt more to playing with the big boys.
As well as training being underway, it was time for Brendan Rodgers to issue his statement regarding the recent events concerning Luis Suárez. He said: "Luis is a very special talent and I thank him for the role he has played in the team in the past two years, during my time at Liverpool.
"I think he would be the first to accept he has improved as a player over that period, along with the team and has benefited from being here, as we have benefited from him.
"The club have done all they can over a sustained period of time to try to keep Luis at Liverpool. We wish him and his young family well; we will always consider them to be friends. We are focused on the future, as we strive to continue with the progress we have made and build on last season's excellent Barclays Premier League campaign.
"I am confident we will improve the team further and will be stronger for this coming season, when we will be competing on all fronts; domestically and in the greatest club competition in the world, the Champions League.
"If there is one thing the history of this great club teaches us, it is that Liverpool FC is bigger than any individual.”
However, with Luis Suárez aside, former Liverpool manager Roy Evans has also spoken out about how he believes that the new signing, Rickie Lambert, will provide Rodgers with an important alternative during the upcoming season. Evans said: “I think Lambert will be a very good addition to the squad - he's a great pro.
"I also think he will be very useful for us in the coming season. When teams come to Anfield this season to 'park the bus', which they are quite entitled to do, Lambert will give us another option to break them down.
"He is good in the air, good in and around the box and he's a player that takes his chances when they come. I just feel he gives us good options and obviously with us being back in the Champions League - and hopefully we will be back there for quite a while - you need a bigger squad."
Evans also spoke fondly of Liverpool’s even more recent signing, Adam Lallana. He continued: "When you buy players you never quite know until you get them into your own little camp how they are going to gel with your own players, but I think Lallana is a talented player.
"He is great on the ball and he can form good partnerships with the full-backs. It's a good signing because he's a young player with more improvement to come."
The future is looking bright for Liverpool, despite losing their best player; they do now have the £75m that they can spend on making even more additions to their squad. With a manager like Brendan Rodgers, the fans will be expecting some big transfers to be made now that they have the money to do so.
It is clear that the rest of the players are undeterred, and unwilling to give up hope on their dream of winning the Premier League. For now, be sure to stay tuned-in to VAVEL Liverpool to look the rest of the pre-season unfold.
If you want more amazing pictures from Friday’s training session, just follow this link from the official Liverpool Football Club website.
