Wijnaldum sees Liverpool benefits in tough pre-season

Liverpool’s Georginio Wijnaldum feels that the club’s tough pre-season travails will benefit them as the start of the new Premier League campaign draws near.

Jurgen Klopp’s men spent a week at an intensive training camp in Evian, France following their participation in the International Champions Cup ahead of their final friendlies before they meet West Ham on August 12 to kick-off the domestic season.

The Reds then drubbed Napoli 5-0 in Dublin and face Torino at home on Tuesday to cap off their preparations, and Wijnaldum feels that the experience has handed them a boost going forward.

“I feel fresh but it was a hard week,” the Dutchman told liverpoolfc.com. “We trained a lot of the time and it was much tougher than it was in America.

“I think we did well. Everyone was fit during the trip and out of the trip and all was good.”

Regarding the team’s demolition of their Serie A opposition, Wijnaldum felt that the friendly provided a good opportunity to fine-tune and fiddle around before getting down to business in the Premier League.

“It was a good workout against a good team,” the 27-year-old added. “I think everything we did went well, except for the last 10 minutes of the first half when the gaps in the midfield were way too big.

“It was difficult, it was hard because we had to run a lot, but I think if you look at it overall we played a good game.”

Wijnaldum netted the second goal for the Reds against Napoli at the Aviva Stadium and stressed that his desire to add to his haul at Anfield is yet to be diminished.

“Every player wants to score more,” the midfielder added. “I like to score goals as back in the day I was used to scoring goals. Of course, I’m playing differently now but I know I can score goals so I want to add it to my game.”

Following their opening game against the Hammers on Merseyside, Liverpool travel to Crystal Palace on August 20, before they wrap up the month back home to Brighton on August 25.