Liverpool duo Harry Wilson and Marko Grujic have suffered a knock-on affect of lockdown on their futures at the club.
Both players are returning to Anfield after respective spells out on loan at Bournemouth and Hertha Berlin.
Having been plying their trade away from Merseyside over the past couple of seasons, both stars are now at a crossroads in their careers.
While Liverpool face an increasingly congested schedule next season, chances for either player to impress before the 2020/21 campaign are going to be few and far between.
As reported by the Liverpool Echo, where Wilson and Grujic would normally be offered minutes in the initial pre-season friendlies, those matches will now be used to get first-team stars up to full speed.
Liverpool played Tranmere and Bradford at the start of their pre-season last year, which gave the likes of Wilson an opportunity to stake his claim for a place in the team.
However as Liverpool have a shorter timeframe to get their stars prepared for the forthcoming campaign, their usual pre-season tour abroad has been scrapped.
The fixtures against local sides will still be arranged, but Wilson and Grujic may struggle for minutes.
Grujic has failed to break into the Liverpool side since joining the club as one of Jurgen Klopp's first signings in 2016.
He has performed well in the Bundesliga for Hertha Berlin, but there is little likelihood of him dislodging any of Liverpool's current midfield stars.
A similar scenario befalls Wilson, who while making an impression at Bournemouth and Derby over the last two seasons, faces a real battle to force his way into first-team reckoning at Anfield.
It is likely that both stars could be offloaded this summer in a bid to raise transfer funds, after Jurgen Klopp admitted the club were not in a position to spend big in this summer's window.
Wilson, 23, has previously been valued at around £20million, while Grujic, 24, would be considered not far off that, though Liverpool would struggle to command those sorts of figures in the current climate.
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