Liverpool will split their squad during their preseason tour of the United States if they need to play in a Europa League qualifier in July, Jurgen Klopp has said.
Klopp's squad will spend late July in California while playing in the preseason International Champions Cup, and the manager told the Liverpool Echo he had planned for the possibility of European fixtures at the same time.
It was announced on Wednesday that his side will face Chelsea in Pasadena on July 27 and AC Milan in Santa Clara on July 30, but a Europa League qualifier could clash, with the first leg scheduled on July 28 and the second leg on Aug. 4.
The team finishing fifth in the Premier League will go straight into the Europa League group phase, but those in sixth and seventh could also get into the competition.
If one of Manchester City (who won the League Cup) or West Ham/Manchester United (still in the FA Cup) finish in the top five as well as winning a cup, then sixth will be in the Europa League.
If both City and West Ham/Manchester United are top five after winning the domestic cups, then sixth will be in the Europa League group stage and seventh the third qualifying round.
Liverpool are ninth in the league, three points behind seventh-placed Southampton with two games in hand. If they are involved in the European qualifier, Liverpool will retain half of their squad in California to face Chelsea and send a team back to play in Europe before rejoining the tour.
"I am really happy with the plan," Klopp said. "It's complicated of course, because we don't know yet about Europe and whether there are any qualifiers, but in the end we had to make a decision. And the decision is that if we are in these qualifiers then we will have to fly back from the USA.
"It's a long flight but we can't change this. If we have to fly back -- no problem."
Klopp added that he had taken advice from United States head coach Jurgen Klinsmann when choosing the venue for Liverpool's California training camp.
He said players would be joining preseason at staggered intervals after playing for their countries in the European Championship in France (June 10-July 10), Copa America Centenario in the United States (June 3-26) and Olympic Games in Rio (Aug. 4-20).
"I spoke to Jurgen Klinsmann and asked about the area where we are going," Klopp said. "He was really positive, so I am really looking forward to it.
"At the start of the camp in the USA, the first players coming back from the European Championships will join us. They will be with us so we'll have a very big group.
"At the start of the preseason we will have a group with a lot of very young players and then step by step the rest of the players will join us over those following weeks."