Joe Gomez is slowly but surely developing into one of the world’s best

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Joe Gomez is steadily becoming one of the world’s best defenders. The 22-year-old Liverpool man looks incredibly reliable right now.

Gomez has had an up and down time over the last two seasons. He began the last campaign as Virgil van Dijk’s first-choice partner, only for injury to strip him of the role.

Joel Matip took over and Gomez never looked quite as comfortable as he had before the injury. In fact, it took him a year to reassert himself in Liverpool’s starting XI.

That inability to quickly regain form made the game against Norwich City on Saturday a key one. Could Gomez maintain his fine form after an enforced two-week break?

It turned out that he absolutely could and there’s little doubt that Gomez will play against Atletico Madrid.

The Englishman helped control Norwich, using his pace to sweep up behind and using the ball really well. It’s taking time but he’s gradually becoming an elite defender.

In fact, Gomez is playing at the level of the world’s best, such is his set of qualities.

You’d have to pay an absolute fortune to find a defender who can do what Gomez does. As said, he’s so quick, he’s powerful and he’s great on the ball – both at dribbling and passing.

Add to that his defensive qualities and there’s little chance of finding even half the player for the £3.5m Liverpool paid. And those qualities can be seen very clearly by Liverpool’s record.

Gomez returned to the starting XI in the Premier League on December 7th. He’s started all 11 league games since and helped to keep a remarkable 11 clean sheets.

The Reds had just two before that.

There’s little doubt about it anymore. Gomez has a few more questions to answer, of course – can he keep it up for a full season? – but he’s well on his way to being one of the world’s best.