Chris Sutton says 26-year-old player may just have saved his Liverpool career

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Time may have been running out on one Liverpool player’s career recently, but he’s turned it around.

That’s the view of pundit Chris Sutton, who believes that Reds defender Joe Gomez may have just saved himself from being sold.

Gomez has been excellent whilst filling in at left-back of late. That continued with a solid display during Sunday’s FA Cup win over Arsenal. And speaking on BBC 5 Live’s Monday Night Club last night, Sutton says the 26-year-old might just have stopped a personal slide at Anfield.

“I think Joe Gomez as a Liverpool player has been there a long time, largely on the periphery and maybe on the way out,” said the pundit. “But he gets his opportunity and he has just shown how reliable he is.

“This is his ninth year at Liverpool and he hasn’t started 100 Premier League games. That’s not a lot of games. I know he went there as a youngster from Charlton and he had a lot of injuries, but I suspect from the outside that I always viewed that his time is running out at Liverpool.

“But he has got his opportunity, playing out of position at left-back now, and doing more than a solid job. That is a testament to the manager as much as anything, being able to seemingly keep so many players happy because so many players want to be starting every week.”

Gomez proves his worth

Often times, comments like these from pundits are laced with a fair bit of hyperbole. At times it seems that if it were up to them, virtually every player would be on the chopping block at one time or another.

But in this case, you have to concede that Sutton is probably right.

Last summer, there were many of a Liverpool persuasion who would have had Gomez sold off. He’d just come off the back of a pretty dreadful campaign and looked unlikely to be the player he had been before his injuries.

There was seemingly interest there in the England international, and it appeared that a fresh start could do him could.

Thankfully, Jurgen Klopp stuck with Joe. And this season so far, he’s been rewarded handsomely for that.

He may have slipped down the pecking order in terms of centre-back at Liverpool, but Gomez currently one of Klopp’s most important players. First-choice left-back and still in the mix at right-back too, the Reds No.2 is showing his quality.

Ask now, and you’d now be hard pushed to find a Liverpool fan who’d have him sold off anytime soon.

As a result, we’d have to agree with Sutton on this point. Klopp might see it differently, mind you. The Reds boss has always been a fan of Gomez and may have had no plans to let him leave. But from a purely form perspective, Joe has turned things around and then some.