Yesterday, in his pre-Hull City press conference, Jürgen Klopp mentioned that Joe Gomez isn’t too far away from a Liverpool return.
Gomez, well on his way to recovery after an ACL injury last season, suffered a setback in pre-season and he has remained sidelined for the whole of pre-season and the beginning of the new campaign.
A week ago, James Pearce reported that Gomez would only make a return at the end of October. The trusted journalist said that the Englishman would only return to training by “mid to late January” but it would seem as though he has already returned to light training, albeit not with the full squad.
Klopp, however, has pointed out that the defender has made something of a return.
“[He is doing] good. Not in team training but good,” he told reporters at Melwood.
“Everything that he is doing at the moment he is doing without problems, so that’s good.
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“But, of course, he has a little way to go.”
While Gomez may make his return towards the end of October, it’s unlikely he will play with the squad depth that Liverpool has this season. Lucas Leiva, Ragnar Klavan and Mamadou Sakho are all challenging Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren for the two centre-back spots.
Liverpool’s last two games in the Premier League have shown a real upturn in form as far as defensive displays go. Matip has brought aerial prowess to Jurgen Klopp’s back four as well as the ability to play the ball out from the back with real composure and purpose. Lovren, once hated on Merseyside, has found the form he showed in last season’s Europa League and looks well worth the £20 million that was paid for him in 2014.
Gomez started his career at Liverpool brightly and he will be looking to continue when he returns and he may challenge James Milner to be the starting left back. Klopp will be pleased with his options at the back, especially with how well his first choice defenders are doing.
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