Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has stepped up his recovery from a long-term knee injury by joining his Liverpool team-mates in a training session during their warm-weather camp in Marbella on Tuesday.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has not played since April 24 when he damaged knee ligaments during Liverpool’s 5-2 Champions League semi-final first-leg win over Roma at Anfield.
Now it appears the 25-year-old could soon be in a position to help Liverpool in the Premier League title race.
Rhian Brewster, Ben Woodburn and Nat Phillips also took part in a bid to improve their fitness, with manager Jurgen Klopp pleased to see them back.
“The boys had to do a bit of core work, passing and the rondos and it’s nice [they could be involved],” he said on the club’s website.
“These things Ox can do, and Rhian can do, and Ben can do and Nat Phillips could do most of them. That’s all good.
“This afternoon they will have to do their own stuff again and hopefully we can integrate them step by step.”
Not all of the news has been good, however, with Dejan Lovren not travelling to Marbella with the rest of the squad.
The Croatian centre-back had been slated to travel but has instead remained on Merseyside to continue his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury, making him a doubt for the Champions League clash with Bayern Munich next week.
“Dejan is not here and Joe [Gomez] is not here,” Klopp said.
“That’s never a good sign, I would say, but we will try everything to make Dejan available for Munich. It will be a tight race.
“For him, it makes sense in the moment to be in another place to do what he has to do. It wouldn’t have helped if he was here, so we will try everything – that’s clear.”
James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum and Fabinho sat out Monday’s session but Klopp said there were no serious issues.
“It’s how it is after games, you have a couple of problems,” he said.
“Millie and Gini still struggle with their illnesses, so they did a bit of work in the hotel. Fabinho felt [something] a little bit; it will not be a problem, but there was no reason for him to be out today.
“Hopefully he can train tomorrow and if not then the day after that. None of them are serious, all will be fine.”
