Danny Ings will play for Liverpool U23s at Swansea City tonight as the striker continues his recovery from a second long-term injury.

Having missed the majority of last term after knee surgery, Ings travelled with the first-team squad for the pre-season training camp in Germany this summer but did not feature in any of the recent warm-up matches for Jürgen Klopp’s side.

But that was due to circumstances, not fitness, according to the manager.

The trip to Watford for the Premier League opener on Saturday will therefore come too soon for Ings, but he will be involved as Neil Critchley’s U23s kick off their season in Wales.

“Danny will play tonight. He needs games,” Klopp told reporters at Melwood.

“It was unlucky; Danny looked really good in the sessions but when he could be 100 per cent part of the pre-season games, there was no time for us to really test and give him five or 10 minutes, we had to do it differently. It was not too cool but it was the situation.

“Now he is ready to go. He is fit, as fit as he can be in this moment, no problem with injury.

“He will play tonight with the U23s. He is fit but not really an option [yet] because he has had no pre-season games so far.”