Liverpool had Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch back in Chicago on Sunday for their first pre-season session, with Red All Videos in focus as the club moved into its preparation phase. Florian Wirtz was waiting at the team's hotel in downtown Chicago after the 4-2 win over Sunderland in Nashville, before joining the group at Chicago Fire's Endeavour Performance Centre.
The three returned over the weekend after their World Cup exertions. That timing matters for Liverpool because the club has two high-value players — Isak and Wirtz — getting back into work at the start of the pre-season schedule, rather than later in the trip.
Andoni Iraola on Isak and Wirtz
Andoni Iraola said he was excited to work with Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, and he linked that optimism to how both players approached the start of the season. In an interview published on Monday with The Anfield Wrap, he said: "Yes I am excited [to work with them] and I also feel you are talking about Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz as two players who have already been here for one year and the first impressions when I have talked to them is also that they want to have a good season."
He added: "They want to start well, they were asking a lot of the right questions. They care about winning, they care about a lot things. They are good players and I am looking forward to working with them." That gives Liverpool a clearer picture of where the pair stand after their return: ready to train, asking questions, and already in the mix for the season ahead.
£241m and wide reinforcements
Isak and Wirtz were described as costing £241m combined, which helps explain why Liverpool want their preparation phase to run cleanly from the outset. Iraola has said in two separate press conferences that a wide player is the priority, and he told The Anfield Wrap that Liverpool are working on a potential deal for Bradley Barcola.
That pursuit is complicated. Paris Saint-Germain are reluctant to sell Barcola and have been trying to tie him down to a new deal for the best part of the last 12 months, while Yan Diomande is now on the cusp of a move to Real Madrid. Liverpool had already moved on from interest in Diomande earlier in the summer, so the wide-area search is still active but not yet settled.
Bradley Barcola remains unresolved
Barcola is Paris Saint-Germain's No. 1 target for a club seeking reinforcements in wide areas, and Arsenal had also been named as an interested party. For Liverpool, that leaves the first training session in Chicago paired with a transfer chase that is still open-ended: the squad is back together, but the next wide addition has not yet been settled.
That is why Wirtz waiting in downtown Chicago mattered beyond the hotel lobby. It was the first sign that Liverpool's most expensive returning players had moved from recovery back into the pre-season schedule, while the club's next move on Barcola still has to be worked through.
