Milner is fittest of the lot

The 32- year- old James Milner proved he is the fittest Liverpool player by winning the lactate test on the first day of pre- season training, reports the Daily Mail.

In total, 26 players returned to Melwood on Monday morning after their breaks following the Champions League final defeat in May.

Georginio Wijnaldum and Virgil van Dijk were absent along with the eight players representing their countries at the World Cup.

New signings Naby Keita and Fabinho joined the squad for the first time and after the squad was put through fitness tests inside and the players were weighed, they headed out on to the pitch for the gruelling lactate test.

The test is a way of measuring a player’s aerobic endurance by taking their blood from an ear lobe at the end of each level.

The sample shows how much lactic acid there is and if it is over a certain level they cannot continue any further.

It is a case of last man standing after increasing the distance ran and speed, starting off at 8km/ h for two laps ( 800 metres). Milner was that last man standing, reportedly running at a speed of 24km/ h, while Fabinho stopped early on.

Keita made it down to the final six alongside Andy Robertson, Ragnar Klavan, Danny Ings, Milner and Adam Lallana, who finished second. Manager Jurgen Klopp did predict as the squad were running that Milner would win and as Milner and Lallana passed him he said: ‘ The hope of English football’.