Ken Mikazuki

TOKYO: English Premier League champions Liverpool trained in intense heat in Japan on Tuesday in preparation for their friendly match against the Yokohama F Marinos on Wednesday.

The Liverpool players trained at Mihama in Chiba Prefecture where temperatures have regularly exceeded 35 C in recent weeks.

But Liverpool’s superstar players seemed unfazed by the heat and the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, ENDO Wataru and new boy Florian Wirtz were laughing under the morning sun and appeared to be in a good mood as they prepared for their match in front of a large crowd of reporters.

Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan told the Nihon Keizai newspaper the English team’s first pre-season visit to Japan was a good opportunity to expand to overseas markets, especially coming to the region as champions.

While most of Liverpool’s revenue is generated at home in England, a quarter of the club’s social network followers are fans from Asia.  

“We don’t set numerical targets by region, but we want to produce the maximum benefit from Asia,” Hogan said.