Liverpool preseason/July squad rankings: Who’s king?

BASEL, SWITZERLAND - MAY 18: Daniel Sturridge (1st R) of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's first goal with his team mates Roberto Firmino (1st L), Adam Lallana (2nd L) and Philippe Coutinho (2nd R) during the UEFA Europa League Final match between Liverpool and Sevilla at St. Jakob-Park on May 18, 2016 in Basel, Switzerland. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)
BASEL, SWITZERLAND - MAY 18: Daniel Sturridge (1st R) of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's first goal with his team mates Roberto Firmino (1st L), Adam Lallana (2nd L) and Philippe Coutinho (2nd R) during the UEFA Europa League Final match between Liverpool and Sevilla at St. Jakob-Park on May 18, 2016 in Basel, Switzerland. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images) /
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As Liverpool prepare to begin the Premier League season, the squad’s hierarchy is becoming clearer. Here’s the players who are leading the club heading into the new campaign.

Liverpool still have a squad being weighed down by deadweight towards the bottom of the team, a few overpriced, immobile strikers and wayward purchases from previous regimes that they can’t seem to strip.

But the top of the team is actually good. There’s a number of positions that’ll have rotation options and stiff competition for the first team. Naturally being a Liverpool fan, there’s inherent false hope every season. But this year it feels more real with Jurgen Klopp steering the ship and these players leading the team.

Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino, Emre Can, Jordan Henderson, Joel Matip, Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana, James Milner, Nathaniel Clyne and others are forming a beautiful core, but where do these players stack up against eachother?

That’s what we’re looking to subjectively determine, the hierarchy of the team heading into the season. This will be a monthly feature, squad rankings from the previous month.

Being that it’s preseason, this list is comprised by general outlook on the season as well as preseason contributions. Like, Ben Woodburn and Ovie Ejaria had been top players at Liverpool this preseason, but they won’t be in the first team. Marko Grujic impressed, but his outlook for playing time is cloudy with a chance of reserve matches at this point plus his concussion makes it even more foggy, so he didn’t crack it.

Next: 13. Danny Ings