Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Mohamed Salah has now "fully recovered" from the shoulder injury that he sustained in last season's Champions League final.
The PFA Player of the Year was cruelly forced off in the first half of the Reds' 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid in Kiev after landing awkwardly following a challenge with Sergio Ramos.
Salah missed Egypt's opening World Cup game against Uruguay a few weeks later, but he was able to play a part against Russia and Saudi Arabia, scoring in both of those Group A matches.
Any concerns of the Premier League's top scorer for 2017-18 still feeling the effects of his dislocated shoulder have been allayed by Klopp, who was delighted to see his star man back in training earlier this week.
"He has fully recovered," he told reporters ahead of Liverpool's friendly against Borussia Dortmund on Sunday evening. "We were constantly in contact [during the World Cup] and he was fine. Shoulder-wise, he had no problems. We were in really close contact and it was clear that if he had any problems still then he would have waited for the next game.
"He is a very serious person and he knows that it's his career. Whatever people want from you, if you can't, you can't. But he was completely fine and is completely fine now. He looks full of joy and is really happy to be back. It was nice to see him yesterday for the first time, the same for Sadio [Mane].
"They had an intense year behind them but they are really looking forward to the season already. It's good to have them back and they can start training now and all that stuff. It was not a long time they were out but I think it was very important that they had at least three weeks. Now they still have a good basis.
"They look very fit – we made tests yesterday. Both have fantastic values so they did the work they had to do, so now they can start quicker than the rest of the team from another basis. That's good for us but the season starts on August 12, not this week, so good."
Salah and Mane will be joined by fellow World Cup participant Marko Grujic for the second leg of Liverpool's pre-season campaign.
Daniel Lewis
