What Jurgen Klopp said as he arrived back for Liverpool pre-season training

Liverpool’s preparations for the 2023-24 season officially get underway today.

The Reds return to the AXA Training Centre for pre-season training. Certainly, Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that the upcoming campaign fares better than what proved to be a disappointing 2022-23. Liverpool failed to finish in the Premier League top four and surrendered a spot in the Champions League while they did not challenge for a piece of silverware.

But the summer has proven fruitful for the Reds so far. In the transfer window, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have arrived - from Brighton and RB Leipzig respectively - for a combined fee of £95 million to bolster Liverpool’s midfield options.

The new duo won’t be present for the opening day of pre-season along with many of Klopp’s squad. Of the first team, Adrian, Stefan Bajcetic, Fabinho, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip, Darwin Nunez, Nathaniel Phillips and Thiago Alcantara will feature before the likes of Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk return next week.

And as Liverpool make ready for next term, Klopp was all smiles and in buoyant mood as he returned to the AXA. In footage uploaded by the club’s Twitter account, the Anfield boss revealed that he has had a brilliant break and is now ‘happy to be back’.

Speaking after Liverpool’s 4-4 draw against Southampton on the final day of last season, Klopp insisted he was full of energy and looking forward to the upcoming period.

The German said: “Honestly, I’m completely fine. If you’d asked me 11 games ago, ‘do you want to have a break?’, I would have thought about it, to be honest.

“But I’m absolutely fine, full of energy. “I have a break – I don’t have training and these kind of things. But a really busy period hopefully starts now in a different area of the game. I’m more than happy to do that. I will find time to re-energise and then we start again in July.”