Interview'We've done a lot of that' - inside the high importance of pre-season

Now one of the most experienced players at the club, the Scotland captain is preparing for what will be his ninth campaign with the Reds.

Arne Slot’s men have been building up to 2025-26 for around a fortnight overall and landed in Hong Kong on Monday for the start of their tour of Asia.

Work towards defending the Premier League title they won so impressively last term has included Liverpool being active in the transfer market.

On Wednesday it was confirmed a deal had been agreed to bring in Hugo Ekitike, who follows the likes of Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Florian Wirtz in bolstering the group.

Speaking after Thursday’s open training session at Kai Tak Stadium, left-back Robertson was asked how the senior players are guiding the new recruits and group as a whole.

He said: “When you look at the four older players or the leaders, with me, Ali [Alisson Becker], Virg [Virgil van Dijk] and Mo [Salah] then we take that upon ourselves to try to let them settle in as easy as possible, try to integrate them into the squad as quickly as possible.

“You know how important that is, especially when they’re coming from different countries, different cultures and things like that. It’s just about trying to get them up to speed as quickly as possible.

“We take great pride in that. We were all young before, we’ve all needed help going into squads. We still help the young lads as much as we can. When it is new players, helping them settle in – finding houses, even just getting them settled with their family, because we know how important that is – it’s so important.

“On the pitch, they kind of look after themselves – they’ve got so much quality and they’re so good. That’s the pleasing thing. Off the field, it’s about making sure they’re not sitting alone, making sure they’re getting to know each other.

“These trips are so important; we’re in the hotel, we’re all away from our families, away from our kids and it’s important that we spend a lot of time getting to know each other and things like that. And we’ve done a lot of that.

“The lads already have settled in really well. Obviously Hugo has just come in so we’ll have our first dinner with him tonight. But Jeremie, Milos, Gio, Flo have all really settled in quite quickly and it’s as if they’ve been here for months now, which is pleasing.

“It’s just up to them to then understand the standards of playing with Liverpool, and I think they’re getting to grips with that already.”

Liverpool recorded friendly victories over Preston North End (3-1) and Stoke City (5-0) before heading out to Asia, where they will face AC Milan on Saturday and Yokohama F. Marinos next Wednesday.

All their efforts are aimed at August’s big kick-off, and Robertson feels they are progressing well in their readiness for the new season.

“We’ve been working hard,” said the No.26. “We’ve obviously been back maybe about two, two-and-a-half weeks now and it’s just about building up fitness.

“We look good in training but we need to probably get the game sharpness up still. Bit by bit, we’re getting there. We need to be ready to go, we don’t get long now. We don’t get long off as well, so we don’t lose as much.”

He added: “I think we’ve all proven over the years and in our whole careers that we’re all winners. That’s in training as well as games.

“You want to win, whether it’s training or whether it’s games. Trying to get into good habits, wanting to win and having that will to succeed. That will stand us in good stead for the season ahead.”

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