![\"Florian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1_Florian-Wirtz.jpg\")
Florian Wirtz pictured being put his paces after his signing from Bayer Leverkusen was announced last month(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\nLiverpool will play their first pre-season friendly of the summer on Sunday when they travel to Deepdale to take on Preston North EndFlorian Wirtz pictured being put his paces after his signing from Bayer Leverkusen was announced last month(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
When ITV first secured the broadcasting rights to show Liverpool\u2019s first pre-season friendly of the summer away to Preston North End, it was under very different circumstances. The Reds\u2019 first game since the tragic death of Diogo Jota, and his brother Andre Silva will be aired on ITV<\/a> 1 on Sunday (July 13).<\/p>\n As first reported by the ECHO<\/a> earlier this week, it is understood that a deal to show the game was agreed in principle before the end of June<\/a>, before a final agreement was then struck at the start of last week.<\/p>\n As a result, it is stressed that ITV\u2019s broadcasting of the match, which now carries far greater meaning and public interest, is sadly an unfortunate coincidence.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Rio Ngumoha contract latest as Liverpool stance explained<\/a>READ MORE: Liverpool have a new motivation they never wanted as first painful\u00a0steps\u00a0taken<\/a><\/p>\n When ITV bosses first had the idea to claim the broadcasting rights for Liverpool<\/a>\u2019s first friendly of the summer, they were no doubt thinking something along the lines of: \u2018It\u2019s the Premier League<\/a> champions and they\u2019ve just broken the British transfer record as part of a \u00a3200m spending spree\u2019.<\/p>\n Sure enough, look at the TV guide and it still reads: “Preston North End v Liverpool (Kick-off 3.00pm). All the action from the friendly at Deepdale.<\/p>\n “Preston finished 15th in the Championship last term and will look forward to testing themselves against the reigning Premier League champions, who have further strengthened their squad over the summer by signing the likes of full-backs Milos Kerkez<\/a> and Jeremie Frimpong<\/a> and attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz<\/a>.”<\/p>\n When Liverpool were last in action on May 25, drawing with Crystal Palace before being presented with the Premier League trophy, it was a carnival atmosphere at Anfield<\/a>.<\/p>\n But fast-forward 49 days to Sunday\u2019s trip to Deepdale and it will inevitably be a very different mood with the Reds a club in mourning for the loss of one its most popular players.<\/p>\n Following Jota<\/a>\u2019s death, the start of pre-season was delayed, with the Liverpool squad instead reporting back to the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday (July 8).<\/p>\n Usually the start of pre-season is a joyous time as new signings bed in and players laugh and joke after their summer breaks away. On day one, it feels like anything is possible for the season ahead.<\/p>\n Inevitably, not this year. The mood was a sombre one in Kirkby<\/a>, with the Reds understandably beginning their pre-season preparations behind closed doors, away from the glare of TV cameras and photographers, as they grieve their team-mate.<\/p>\n Consequently, the first supporters have seen of Arne Slot<\/a>\u2019s new-look squad came when they stepped back in front of the cameras and paid a group visit to the memorial site at Anfield, set up in memory of Jota and Silva, accompanied by members of the pair’s families.<\/p>\n Led out by Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, who carried his own floral tribute, they were followed by the brothers\u2019 loved ones and then the other members of Liverpool\u2019s leadership group in Mohamed Salah<\/a> and Andy Robertson.<\/p>\n Robertson had already made his own private visit to the site earlier in the week, followed by Dominik Szoboszlai alongside fellow Hungarians Milos Kerkez and Armin Pecsi, as well as Cody Gakpo.<\/p>\n New signings Wirtz, Kerkez, Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili <\/a>and Freddie Woodman were also among the group on Friday, all spotted alongside their new team-mates for the first time.<\/p>\n Mamardashvili hasn\u2019t even been officially unveiled by Liverpool, having now completed his \u00a329m move from Valencia, which was first agreed last summer. Instead, he had been quietly added to the first team squad on the club\u2019s official website<\/a> before this first public appearance.<\/p>\n Harvey Elliott and Tyler Morton were with the group, too, having won the European Championships with England Under-21s last month. The ECHO<\/a> understands that the pair are not yet back in training following their international exploits despite their presence at Anfield.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, youngsters Stefan Bajcetic, Ben Doak, James McConnell and Trey Nyoni were also in attendance.<\/p>\n Doak and McConnell will be available for selection against Preston, too, after their previous campaigns were ended by injury, but it\u2019s understood that Bajcetic remains sidelined after undergoing surgery on his hamstring.<\/p>\n The Liverpool squad will make their next public appearance on Sunday at Deepdale, coming in more conventional surroundings as they step back into the spotlight to make their unofficial debut together and take to the field for the first time this summer. There will be multiple tributes paid to both Jota and Silva ahead of kick-off.<\/a><\/p>\n