Though a final verdict isn’t expected from UEFA until next week at the earliest and could even arrive after Liverpool play their first match of pre-season, against Tranmere Rovers on Friday, June 8th, Mamadou Sakho will take part in pre-season preparations with the club.
While his ban was lifted by UEFA, that he remains in an uncertain situation pending the final ruling had led to some doubts as to just when and how he would be included in Liverpool’s pre-season preparations. It appears, though, that until there is a ruling, the club will approach the Sakho case as though he has been cleared.
The player will join his teammates—including new signings Sadio Mané, Loris Karius, Joel Matip, and Marko Grujic, none of whom played in this summer’s tournaments—on Saturday, and, if a ruling is not delivered before next Friday’s match against Tranmere, he will is likely to play some role in the game against Tranmere.
Despite the lingering uncertainty while player, club, and fans all wait on UEFA’s final ruling, there remains an expectation that following their decision to lift the earlier ban and given the drug Sakho took wasn’t explicitly listed as a banned one on UEFA’s lists at the time, the player will be fully cleared within the next two weeks.
While Sakho will be there for the entire pre-season and could face Tranmere, Liverpool will be missing 13 first team players for at least the start of pre-season. Philippe Coutinho and, due to their early exit, Liverpool’s England contingent are all certain to be back in time for the club’s pre-season tour of North America.
Depending on how much further they go, the club’s representatives with Belgium, Wales, and Germany could end up missing some of the pre-season tour.