Liverpool continue their preparations for the new Premier League season and Mohamed Salah has already impressed
Former Liverpool stalwart James Milner stole the headlines in every pre-season under Jurgen Klopp in the lactate test. However, there is a new star under new head coach Arne Slot after Mohamed Salah shone under the Dutchman.
For years, the notorious programme measured the player’s aerobic endurance as participants are asked to run a series of increasing distances at great speeds. At the end of each checkpoint a sample of blood is taken from each player’s ear to measure their lactic acid level. If the level is too high, they must drop out until there is only one player left.
With Klopp’s departure, the gruelling regime also followed suit and was replaced by the Six-Minute Race Test (6MRT). The exam lasts for six minutes around a 400m race track – designed to go as fast as possible and cover between 1.5 and 2km.
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Sepp van den Berg, who spent last season on loan in Germany at Bundesliga side FSV Mainz, charted impressive scores early on topping the standings. However, The Athletic have reported that Salah eclipsed the Dutch defender, covering more ground than any of his Liverpool teammates.
The Egyptian joined up with his teammates last Wednesday as he was put through his paces with Wataru Endo following their involvement in their respective international matches. Liverpool faced the prospect of losing the 32-year-old this summer to the Olympics, during an off-season that was heavily impacted by international football due to the Copa America and European Championships, but the Reds opted to retain Salah.
The ECHO reported at the beginning of July that the club had no concerns over upsetting the star forward after the decision was made to keep him rather than let him bid for gold with Egypt’s Olympic football team in Paris. Dominik Szoboszlai, Vitezlsav Jaros and Andy Robertson will all have undertaken the test this week as they returned to first-team training following the Euros.