'Phenomenal' Mohamed Salah dominates Arne Slot's pre-season fitness test as Liverpool forward shows no signs of slowing down

The 32-year-old forward has plenty of gas left in his tank as he aced the fitness test in pre-season. Liverpool's players were tasked with a grueling six-minute race test, which Salah won by covering more ground than everyone else - surpassing Sepp van den Berg, who previously held the top spot on the leaderboard. Returning for pre-season training in impeccable shape, Salah is leading from the front with an exemplary work ethic in the gym and on the training field.

Conall Murtagh, Liverpool’s first-team fitness coach, described Salah's performance as "phenomenal."

“It’s important to show your mentality. Show the lads how it’s done as leaders in the group,” Murtagh added, via The Athletic.

Andy Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, and young goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros returned to Kirkby on Tuesday after an early exit with their respective countries from Euro 2024. However, Arne Slot has to continue working without 11 senior players as all of them have been serving their nation either at the Euros or the Copa America.

Liverpool's pre-season tour of the United States kicks off next Tuesday and it is evident that Slot will fly without several key players. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez are on holiday following England’s Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain, while Alexis Mac Allister helped Argentina win the Copa America, and Darwin Nunez played for Uruguay in the third-place play-off - which means they are also enjoying their post-season break.

Players typically receive a three-week break after tournaments, meaning that Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Mac Allister, Nunez, and others will not take the grass until Liverpool return from the U.S. on August 4. The Dutch players including Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, and Ryan Gravenberch, along with France's Ibrahima Konate made it to the last four of the Euros and are expected to be back slightly earlier but are unlikely to cross the Atlantic and join Slot in the US. However, Gomez, Gravenberch, and Konate, who did not play during the Euros, may opt to return to training early and the club has left the decision to the players themselves.

Slot will have limited time to work with his full squad before Liverpool's Premier League opener against newly promoted Ipswich Town on August 17. Balancing the integration of players who missed a significant portion of pre-season with the need to maintain team cohesion will be crucial. The Dutch manager is starting a fresh journey at Anfield and the circumstances significantly complicate his efforts to implement his tactical ideas effectively.