Jurgen Klopp has claimed that Joe Gomez will ‘have more games’ for Liverpool for the rest of the season.
Klopp was speaking to BBC Sport (2mins 33secs) after Gomez claimed a delightful assist in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Watford. The manager said that rather than asking him to play like Trent Alexander-Arnold, he told Gomez to be himself in the position.
“I asked him to play like Joe Gomez, he’s an outstanding player,” said Klopp.
“There are some players obviously playing for England who are not first line-up in the club, it didn’t happen for Joey yet, but I’m pretty sure he’ll have more games until the end of the season and then we will see.”
Good news for Gomez as he potentially weighs up a move away from the club this summer.
Three lions dreams
With Alexander-Arnold so crucial to The Reds, it could be that we see Gomez more often in the right-back slot as Trent is given a rest. But as his performance on Saturday showed, he can be a big asset playing in that position.
As Klopp suggests, the 24-year-old’s versatility could aid his push to be recalled to the England national team.
Gomez told LFCTV GO (2mins 40secs) after the game on Saturday that he was aiming for a place in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad in November.
“That’s a goal of mine, not looking too far ahead but there’s a World Cup coming this year and it’s obviously a goal of mine to do all I can,” said Gomez.
Gomez hasn’t been in the squad since he was injured during Three Lions training in September 2020.
His disappearance from the national team set-up has nothing to do with quality. On his day he is arguably the best of all of Southgate’s centre-back options.
As Gomez reinforced this weekend, he can also play any position across the back-line. His lack of appearances is instead due to seeing less than 200 minutes of Premier League action this season.
Klopp will need to guarantee Gomez that he’ll be playing much more in the build up to the tournament in Qatar. The player is clearly willing to do what he needs to to be a part of Southgate’s squad.
If the manager can make those assurances, it will surely have a huge bearing on whether or not we see the number 12 in a Liverpool shirt next season.
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