Will Mohamed Salah & Wataru Endo play at the Olympics? Liverpool get huge boost ahead of pre-season

It was thought that Salah would represent Egypt at the Olympics while Endo would be called up by Japan as one of the three players over the age of 23 allowed in each squad at the Games in Paris this summer.

However, the pair will not be part of the summer tournament and will stay with the Reds as they begin preparing for the first season of the post-Jurgen Klopp era at Anfield, The Athletic reports. As the Olympics is not a FIFA-sanctioned tournament, clubs are under no obligation to release their players if called up. Youngster Stefan Bajcetic has also been left out of the Spain team so that he can have a full pre-season after the 19-year-old midfielder's 2023-24 campaign was cut short due to a calf injury.

Ex-Feyenoord manager Slot has replaced Klopp at the helm of the Premier League team and will be happy to have Salah, Endo at Bajcetic all available as the Reds begin preparing for the new season. The Merseyside club will go on tour of the United States in late-July.

Liverpool's pre-season tour begins on July 27 when they take on Real Betis in a friendly in Pittsburgh before they come up against Arsenal and Manchester United on August 1 and August 4, respectively. Their Premier League campaign gets underway with a game against newly-promoted Ipswich on August 17.