Liverpool lose star midfielder due to BIZARRE twist

Liverpool are planning to be fit and raring to go for the start of their title defence in August.

Transfer moves are being completed over these next few months and in July, the players will reconvene for a pre-season tour of Japan before building up their training for the new season.

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New tactical blueprints will have been created by Arne Slot over the summer and he will be desperately hoping that he has a full squad of players to choose from when August rolls around.

However, one player has been confirmed to be unavailable for the start of the season already and it's nothing to do with their fitness. A bizarre part of the Premier League rolls prohibits his participation.

Ryan Gravenberch to miss the season opener

On Wednesday June 19, the date that every football fan has in their diary rolled around - it was Premier League fixture release day, allowing fans to theorise how difficult their team's chances of winning the title might be, depending on a tough start, a tough run-in or strategic fixture choices.

In our own world, the fact that you would play a rival at home or away first makes an enormous difference as to whether the team will have enough momentum to come away with a win.

First up for the reigning Champions is Bournemouth, who will be visiting Anfield on Friday 15th August, which should ordinarily be a straightforward start. The Cherries will be missing Dean Huijsen, and supposedly Milos Kerkez and Illia Zabarnyi from their defensive ranks due to transfers.

However, Gravenberch will be absent from the Reds, despite his long-term commitment to the side.

Of course, you will be asking, 'how can this be?'. Well, it's because he got a red card during our last game of the season against Crystal Palace, and while yellow cards don't carry over, red ones do.

The challenge he put in was deemed 'a professional last man foul' which might otherwise be known as 'denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity' (DOGSO) which is a one match ban according to the FA as supposed to 'serious foul play' or 'violent conduct' which incur more serious suspensions.

You might also now be thinking, 'can't he serve it during the Community Shield?', and the answer to that is sadly no, he can't. Had there have been an FA Cup game to be played prior to the season, then potentially this could've avoided it, but the powers that be have decided that this can't happen.

As such, he will be missing the Bournemouth game indefinitely and Slot will have to plan for his absence accordingly. Although we have been aware that he would be missing the opening game of the season for some time; the specific opponent was unknown, however. Now we know the damage.

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Generally speaking this shouldn't be a problem. While the Dutchman was incredibly impressive last season, the squad has more than enough to cover him. But it just goes to show, one error to try and make sure the team didn't finish the season with a loss, has left us a man-short to start off with again.

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