Joe Gomez could be reunited with Virgil van Dijk at centre-back when Liverpool take on Man City at Anfield
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Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez of Liverpool during a training session at AXA Training Centre
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez of Liverpool during a training session at AXA Training Centre
(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
It has been 455 days since Joe Gomez last started a Premier League match in his favoured centre-back position. Meanwhile, it has been 649 days since Liverpool last fielded their 2019/20 Premier League title-winning defence from the start.
The last time the 27-year-old started for a first-choice Reds side at the heart of defence, it was in the absence of the suspended Virgil van Dijk when Liverpool won 3-0 at home to Aston Villa in September 2023.
But it was a different story the last time he lined up in a back four alongside the Dutchman, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson. Coming in February 2023, Gomez was hauled off after 73 minutes as the Reds were humbled 5-2 by Real Madrid.
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He bounced back from such a torrid night, of course to record arguably his best season for Liverpool since 2019/20 last time out. Making a career-best 51 appearances, 31 of his outings came from the start.
Yet only five came at centre-back as he embraced life as Jurgen Klopp’s utility defender.
His form was rewarded with an England recall, with Gomez going on to be included in the Three Lions squad for Euro 2024. A fitting return, it appeared he had come full circle given a serious knee injury suffered on international duty in November 2020 had ultimately cost him his first-choice status at Anfield.
Yet he would be left unused in Germany by Gareth Southgate. And while representing his country, Liverpool’s longest-serving player very nearly found himself out the exit door and sacrificed as makeweight to bring in Anthony Gordon.
The Reds had agreed a £45m deal in principle with Newcastle United for the defender, while they would have parted with £75m to sign the winger at the end of June. However, the deal ultimately collapsed after the Magpies found other means to raise funds to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.
Gomez consequently returned to an uncertain future at Anfield, right up until the transfer window closed at the end of August. Since then he has had to be patient for his opportunities.
But Liverpool have been left thanking their lucky stars that they never sanctioned the aforementioned swap deal in the first place.
For starters, both Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo have excelled on the left-wing for the Reds, arguably producing the best form of their Liverpool careers at a time when Gordon has been struggling to recreate the levels that attracted Anfield interest in the first place with Newcastle.
The Colombian has nine goals and two assists from 18 games so far this season, while the Dutchman seven goals and two assists from 19 outings. In contrast, Gordon boasts two goals and an assist from 15 games.
Given it was Diaz who was suspected to be the player moving on if Gordon was signed, Reds bosses have certainly enjoyed the better of that non-transaction so far this season.
But now Slot is set to benefit defensively too, after both Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley were struck down by injury in Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Real Madrid. Gomez is an alternative for both players, of course, but is expected to pair up with his old centre-back partner, Van Dijk. Ahead of locking horns with City, Liverpool will be left breathing a sigh of relief that he is still at the club.
He shone when called into action at half-time against Brighton & Hove Albion last month when Konate last suffered an injury, earning praise from Slot after the final whistle.
“It says a lot about his mentality today, it also says a lot about his quality,” the Dutchman said. “If you don’t play that much and you come in in a game where your team-mates were outplayed for 45 minutes, that you can come in and play like this.
“And it also says a lot about his mentality in the recent weeks and months where he didn’t play that much. But he was able, without playing a lot, to play 90 minutes on Wednesday and to bring in a performance like this on Saturday.
“But this is what people told me when I came in. Joe is a top, top, top professional who always, no matter what position he is in, he always gives the best for the team and for himself in the end as well.
“He got the reward for it today because I think the fans loved what they saw. I definitely did.”
Whenever the Reds have found themselves struck down by injury so far this season, their strength-in-depth has prevailed. And Slot will hope that is once again the case on Sunday when Man City come to Anfield.
Gomez shone the last time he started at centre-back against the Reds’ bitter title-rivals, helping silence Erling Haaland as Liverpool won 1-0 back in October 2022. That outing came in the midst of the last time he was consistently selected at the heart of defence, before a Real Madrid horror show saw him fall out of favour.
Forcing his way back in once, he will now look to do so again with Konate now set for an enforced stint on the sidelines.
Gomez has had to be patient more than once during his Liverpool career, and he has had to repeatedly move his doubters wrong too.
But he would have thought that he was set to move on during the summer. Instead afforded a stay of execution, the Reds’ longest-serving player will now be called to prove his worth to the cause once more.
It was against Man City, back in November 2020 before that untimely knee injury, where he was last considered a first-choice Liverpool centre-back. While perhaps unlikely that he can reclaim such a status in the long-term, if given the nod by Slot in the absence of Konate, the ball is very much in his court.
Having defied the odds just by staying put at Anfield in the summer, it is now up to Gomez to do so again. Repeat his Brighton showing against Man City, and Slot will be left loving what he sees from a player he very nearly sold in the summer.