Jurgen Klopp has revealed the reason he allowed a group of young players to return home from the Reds' training camp last week.
Summer signing Sepp van den Berg, Ki-Jana Hoever, Yasser Larouci, Adam Lewis and Bobby Duncan all left the training base in Evian having featured in last Wednesday's 3-1 friendly win over Lyon in Geneva.
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com, the German coach explained the reasoning behind granting the youngsters permission to leave the training base ahead of schedule.
Klopp also expressed his admiration for 17-year-old prospect Hoever, who penned his first professional contract last week.
Having become Liverpool's third youngest ever player when he featured in FA Cup defeat at Wolves last season, the Dutch defender has risen through the ranks at Anfield.
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The 52-year-old said: "Ki-Jana is a wonderful kid and a sensational young player who can learn so much. Especially in the Napoli game when he came on, on the left side, it was maybe his best 15 minutes in the pre-season.
"The boys try to adapt to what we ask them for; we don’t tell them too much because we want them young and fresh and open. Take the information from the training pitch because if I tell them something, they are like soldiers and it’s not the right thing," The Champions League winning coach continued.
"Information is not there to delete all the other information you had before and to start thinking what the boss wants. They are with us. They had all the development they did without me – and that’s why we let them go [early from the France training camp].
"You can from time to time, especially the physical demands were really heavy for him to take. You forget so quickly these boys are so young. He's (Ki-Jana Hoever) still 17, it’s just crazy.
"But everything will be fine, he’s a fantastic footballer and I’m really happy that we have him for longer."
