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Football

22nd Jul 2018

Jurgen Klopp had to force Alisson to leave Melwood

Darragh Murphy

Jurgen Klopp has signed an eager bunch of lads.

Earlier this summer, we found out that Naby Keita insisted on showing up to Liverpool training a week before he was supposed to so that he could get his first preseason in the Premier League started early.

And the Guinean midfielder isn’t the only new arrival who could be described as a bit keen because Alisson Becker was just as enthusiastic to get down to business as soon as possible.

Becker was unveiled as Liverpool’s new No 1 last week and, in the process, became the most expensive goalkeeper in history.

The Brazilian stopper cut his holiday short to sign his contract and meet his new manager but, apparently, he didn’t want to leave once he arrived on Merseyside.

Klopp revealed that he had to order Alisson to return to his break from football after revealing that supporters can expect the 25-year-old to make his Reds debut against Napoli in a preseason friendly on August 4.

“I would say so,” Klopp said.

“When I saw him at Melwood, he looked fit. He’s desperate to play. He wanted to stay, but it made absolutely no sense.

“He’s had a long year. As Brazil No 1, it was quite an intense year! The World Cup is not a tournament you only play a little bit, it was intense. So I sent him on holiday again.

“There will still be two games to play before West Ham and then West Ham is only the first game of the season, not the last one. So we will see.”

It must make supporters very happy to hear how excited the new signings are to pull on the red shirt.

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