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The precious summer break is usually a time for footballers to chill out, travel and rest weary bones ahead of the return for pre-season and those dreaded fitness sessions.

For Jon Flanagan though his body has done far too much resting.

A year’s loan at Burnley last season did not deliver the revival the 24-year-old hoped it would in terms of playing time.

Flanagan made just 10 appearances for Sean Dyche’s team in a year at Turf Moor which he hoped would remind people of what he can offer at the highest level.

A serious knee injury which required two operations put the brake on Flanagan’s progress at Anfield after he played such an important role in the title challenge of 2013/14, playing in 23 of the 38 Premier League games for Brendan Rodgers’ thrilling side.

He didn’t make a return to Reds duty until January of last year, appearing in eight games under Jurgen Klopp before agreeing a new three-year deal.

With the Burnley experience of last season behind him - where Dyche preferred Matt Lowton at right-back - Flanagan is desperate to hit the ground running in pre-season when he reports back to Melwood on July 5.

To that end he has been spending a month in Portugal alongside Luke Powell, a Liverpool-based personal trainer and nutrition consultant to ensure he arrives back in peak shape.

While the emergence of Trent Alexander-Arnold makes competition for the right back slot even more fierce, Flanagan can of course play both sides, and indeed made four of his six Premier League appearances for Burnley on the left.

With Alberto Moreno set to be sold as soon as anyone meets Liverpool’s £15m asking price - and £11m is already on the table from Napoli - Flanagan could be an option to provide cover on both sides.

As a life-long Liverpool fan, staying at Anfield is very much number one on Flanagan’s list of priorities and he believes he has put his injury problems behind him.

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As he told the ECHO in March: “I want to go back fighting fit and prove myself. I’ve got a great starting point in order to do that with how good I feel physically.

“There’s a lot of competition but that was the case before when I was playing regularly for Liverpool. I want to get back to that.”

Can Flanagan impress Jurgen Klopp enough to earn a squad slot?

Only time will tell but he certainly won’t fail for a lack of effort or desire.