Liverpool’s squad will depart in large part this week, with international duty beckoning—but four notable names will remain on Merseyside.
A last-minute win at home over Leicester was made all the sweeter this past weekend by all the Reds’ main rivals losing: Man City, Spurs, even Man United and Everton, the latter of which will spend the international break in the relegation zone.
Eight points clear at the top, Liverpool have, in Jurgen Klopp‘s usual words, created a nice base for themselves—but big games lie ahead after this two-week hiatus.
17 players from Klopp’s senior squad are off on international duty, while there are also call-ups for 11 players from the Academy set-up and loan army.
However, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mohamed Salah, Naby Keita and Alisson are all excluded from their national team set-ups for a variety of reasons.
England handed summons to Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez, but Oxlade-Chamberlain is a notable omission. The midfielder was in the squad last month, but hasn’t featured heavily for the Reds and missed the weekend game through a head injury.
The Three Lions play Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic (Oct 11) and Bulgaria (Oct 14).
For Brazil, Fabinho is again included alongside Selecao regular Roberto Firmino for the games against Senegal (Oct 10) and Nigeria (Oct 13), but Alisson is not involved as he completes the final stages of his recovery from a calf injury.
Sadio Mane, meanwhile, is back in the Senegal squad to face his Brazilian team-mates.
Naby Keita was withdrawn from the Guinea squad by head coach Didier Six to rest the midfielder, having initially named him in the 23-man group, while Mo Salah was already confirmed to be rested by Egypt even before his weekend injury.
Netherlands play Northern Ireland (Oct 10) and Belarus (Oct 13) in qualifiers, and regular duo Gini Wijnaldum and Virgil van Dijk once more take their place in the squad, the latter as captain.
Scotland face a key couple of qualifiers against Russia (Oct 10) and San Marino (Oct 13) and Andy Robertson will, also as captain, hope to inspire his side to an upturn in fortunes.
In the same group, Belgium face San Marino (Oct 10) and Kazakhstan (Oct 13), with Divock Origi hoping to feature.
Croatia have called up Dejan Lovren, who made his first league appearance of the season at the weekend, for their games against Hungary (Oct 10) and Wales (Oct 13).
For Wales themselves, on-loan Harry Wilson is in the squad, with the first game away to Slovakia (Oct 10), while Liam Millar is called up for Canada’s game against USA (Oct 16).
Ben Woodburn has been called up to the Wales U21 squad for the first time, but may miss out after being subbed off injured at the weekend.
Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher is in the Ireland U21 squad, fellow stopper Kamil Grabara is with Poland U21s and Rhian Brewster is with the England U21s, while Curtis Jones represents the Reds for the England U19s along with the on-loan Rhys Williams.
Harvey Elliott, James Norris and James Balagizi all get England youth call-ups too, to the U17s, while Neco Williams and Morgan Boyes are with Wales U19s and Keelan Williams is in the Wales U17 squad.
Sepp van den Berg is in the Netherlands U19 set-up, while Ki-Jana Hoever is in the U18s.
Finally, Dal Varesanovic has joined the Bosnia & Herzegovina U19s and Allan Rodrigues is in the Brazil U23 squad.
Liverpool in the October international break
Senior players called up: Kelleher, Van Dijk, Gomez, Lovren, Van den Berg, Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Hoever, Fabinho, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Elliott, Firmino, Origi, Brewster, Jones, Mane
Loanees and youth: Grabara, Norris, Boyes, N.Williams, K.Williams, Allan, Woodburn, Wilson, Millar, R.Williams, Balagizi
Notable omissions: Alisson, Adrian, Lonergan, Jaros (injured), Matip (retired), Clyne (injured), Milner (retired), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Grujic, Keita, Lallana, Salah, Shaqiri
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