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Jurgen Klopp admits Rhian Brewster has been “knocked down” by the intensity of pre-season – but is confident the Liverpool youngster is close to a first-team debut.

Brewster was one of the most impressive performers during the early stages of the summer, netting four goals in the Reds' first three games.

However, the 19-year-old has struggled to make a similar impact in recent outings and was given fewer minutes against Sporting Lisbon last Wednesday and Napoli on Sunday.

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And of Brewster's chances of making a senior debut, Klopp said: “He’s close but for him this was his first first-team pre-season. After a long injury, long, intense.

“It started really well then pre-season knocked him down, you really feel your legs, but we are super positive about him. No pressure.

“With the talent and attitude he has, it will be fine, but when I don’t know. In a lot of pre-season moments he looked really good. The future is bright.”

Ben Woodburn, Nat Phillips and Curtis Jones all travelled on the recent tour to the US but were not part of the squad that will head out to Evian for a week-long training camp on Monday.

And Klopp explained: “We have now players coming back, so we decided that they don’t train with us.

“Because of the number of players we have, we don’t need that many.

“They can now train and have the pre-season with the under-23s, having games and sessions.

“I think we have 23 or 24 players, plus goalies, going to Evian. Those three plus Ryan Kent would be 28 or 29, which is not necessary.”