OPINION
There surely won’t be a Liverpool fan who won’t will be thrilled by today’s upbeat update on Joe Gomez.
The brilliant young defender was outstanding in the first half of the season, before breaking down in the win against Burnley at Turf Moor on 5 December.
Speaking to the official Liverpool website on Thursday afternoon, Jurgen Klopp revealed that Gomez is edging closer to his comeback after undergoing surgery on a lower leg fracture in early February.
In an update on the injured players, in which he explained Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will make his return to playing action with an appearance for the Under-23s against Derby County on Friday night, Klopp added: “Nat Phillips will play for the first time I think as well after not as long, but a long enough period, so that’s all good. Rhian [Brewster] is on the way back, so it’s really positive, and Joe [Gomez] is close.”
The Merseyside giants have coped well without the England international, with, first Dejan Lovren and, then, Joel Matip stepping up to provide the same resoluteness and composure alongside the peerless Virgil van Dijk that Gomez had provided.
Neither of Lovren and Matip, experienced and proven as they are, has Gomez’s composure, awareness of danger and unruffled calmness on the ball.
The 21-year-old looked one of the planet’s most eyecatching young defenders before his injury, and it will be a huge boost to the team if he can be back playing soon, most likely after the next international break.
Gomez will certainly be worth the wait, and could yet have a major role to playing during the title run-in.