Liverpool journalist Paul Gorst has been sharing his thoughts on Reds defender Joe Gomez and his role in Jurgen Klopp’s side after Virgil van Dijk suffered a serious knee injury during the Reds’ 2-2 draw against Everton at the weekend.
This comes after Gorst recently made an appearance on the Liverpool Echo’s Blood Red Podcast to talk about the injury to Van Dijk after the club announced he will undergo surgery at some point in the near future.
During the episode, Gorst shared his thoughts on how Van Dijk’s absence will impact Gomez and what it could mean for the Englishman going forward.
He said: “I was just about to say actually, maybe this could be, not so much the making of Joe Gomez because I still think a fully fit and firing Joe Gomez is probably England’s best centre-back.
“I think this could be a chance for him to grasp the nettle and really become a leader in this Liverpool team because let’s face it, if he stays fit he’s going to be playing every week alongside [Joel] Matip who you hope would stay fit, he hasn’t exactly proven that in the four years that he’s been at the club but both of those two players really need to step up now and really show that there is life after Virgil van Dijk and at a time when Alisson Becker is already on the shelf.”
Liverpool signed Gomez from Charlton Athletic back in the 2015 summer transfer window for a fee of £4.41 million. Since then, the defender has gone on to make 115 appearances for the Merseyside club.
Gomez, who is currently valued at £36 million, replaced Van Dijk at Goodison Park after the Dutchman had to be taken off after being on the receiving end of a bad tackle from Jordan Pickford in the early stages of the match.
For his performance against Everton, WhoScored gave Gomez a fairly uninspiring match rating of 6.39/10.
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TIF Thoughts on Paul Gorst’s comments on Gomez…
With Gorst labelling Gomez as ‘England’s best centre-back’ when he is fit and firing, this just shows how much confidence and belief he has in the defender to be an important figure for Liverpool.
With Van Dijk set for a spell on the sidelines, Gomez will undoubtedly need to be putting in strong performances for Liverpool consistently from now on.