Saturday 6 July 2019 16:50, UK
Jurgen Klopp believes young striker Rhian Brewster has an "important role" to play as Liverpool's pre-season gets underway.
The 19-year-old, who is yet to make his full debut - but scored 20 goals in 23 games for England U17s - is highly-rated at Anfield and was named on the bench for the Champions League final win over Tottenham.
Although Brewster's development has been hindered by an ankle injury which kept him out for the majority of last season, Klopp is in no doubt the youngster is ready to step up now.
"Rhian is a really big talent. We're really looking forward to seeing him in training," Klopp told Liverpool's official website. "It will be an important role for us, we've planned an important role for him."
Brewster was not the only Liverpool player returning to Melwood looking to put injury behind him - with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joe Gomez and Adam Lallana like "new players" for Klopp's side.
"After a lot of problems last year, if these boys can really stay fit then that's completely different to last year for the team because there is real quality," Klopp added.
"Hopefully we can give them the time because it's a while since they had competitive games.
"We start pretty intensely against Tranmere after only a few days' training then onto Bradford.
"You play these games not only for doing something in these 90 minutes, you want to see a few things - improvement, desire.
"We have to be ready early, we start the league on a Friday night against Norwich - we have to be ready."
