Liverpool have landed in America. The Reds will play three pre-season friendlies stateside in the next fortnight, taking on Sunderland, Wrexham and then Leeds United.
Before any of that, new head coach Andoni Iraola addressed the media for the first press conference of pre season tour at their temporary base Chicago Fire Endeavor Health Performance Centre on Tuesday.
One of the main issues he addressed was when Liverpool's eight World Cup representatives would be linking up with the rest of the squad ahead of the new Premier League campaign.
While we already knew that Alexis Mac Allister and Víctor Muñoz would miss the U.S. tour, after their respective national teams met in Sunday's final at MetLife, the return date of the other six was something of a mystery, that is until now.
Andoni Iraola reveals when Liverpool's World Cup players will return
On Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch:
"The three players will join us in the second week... I think the sooner we can start working with them, they can understand what we want, the better. "
On Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Cody Gakpo:
"They will start just... in Liverpool... the same week as the others, but instead of making them come here, it makes sense they start the first week at the AXA."
This is certainly an interesting approach. These six players were all eliminated from the World Cup at, roughly, the same time, hence why they are all returning to pre-season training in the same week, albeit only three are heading to America, with the other three remaining on Merseyside.
When Liverpool's World Cup stars were eliminated from the World Cup
Players | World Cup eliminated date | Date can return to training |
|---|---|---|
Florian Wirtz | 29 June | 20 July (yesterday) |
Ryan Gravenberch | 29 June | 20 July (yesterday) |
Virgil van Dijk | 29 June | 20 July (yesterday) |
Cody Gakpo | 29 June | 20 July (yesterday) |
Alexander Isak | 30 June | 21 July (today) |
Alisson | 5 July | 26 July (Sunday) |
Alexis Mac Allister | 19 July | 9 August |
Víctor Muñoz | 19 July | 9 August |
Players are entitled to a mandatory three week holiday between seasons by FIFPRO, which is what the second date in the table is, hence why Mac Allister and Muñoz won't be seen until the Anfield friendly against Como.
In the case of the Dutch trio, German Florian Wirtz and Swede Alexander Isak, Iraola could have demanded they return as early as this week, but is giving each of them an extra week to recover and recharge.
So, why are three heading to America and the other three not?
Well, in the case of Virgil van Dijk, Iraola explicitly detailed why, stating "Virgil has been the player with the most minutes in Europe". This may sound hyperbolic, but is actually factually true.
According to Transfermarkt, between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026, van Dijk played 4,620 minutes for club and country, by far the most of any player in a major European league. Second on that list, when only including outfielders, is Cody Gakpo with 4,433 minutes, so it seems sensible to allow the duo to remain on Merseyside, alongside Alisson, who is regularly dealing with injury issues.
On the flip side, after arriving for big money last summer, neither Wirtz nor Isak showed their best form in a Liverpool shirt. Thus, alongside Ryan Gravenberch, who will be key in the midfield engine room, Iraola clearly feels it is valuable to have them on the grass with him as soon as possible, which will be after Saturday's clash with Sunderland in Nashville.
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