Many Liverpool fans should be feeling pangs of guilt after the news that Joe Gomez was playing through injury and will now miss the rest of the season.
Bad news for Liverpool Football Club today as it was confirmed that after ankle surgery Joe Gomez will miss the rest of the season. That is a crushing blow for the young defender who has been a first team regular and a huge part of Liverpool’s progress this season.
Gomez will not get to reap full reward for his break out season now he will miss the Champions League final and the World Cup with England. He had likely played himself into Gareth Southgate’s 23 man squad for the FIFA tournament in Russia. Many were considering a strong candidate for a starting berth.
The ankle injury he picked up on international duty for England was not fully recovered when he played for Liverpool against Stoke and West Brom in recent Premier League draws. He was playing with swelling, through the pain barrier. Klopp needed him in the rotation around the huge Champions League semi-final legs against Roma to rest Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Those two Premier League were not his performances of the year and now we know why. During those games he picked up a ton of stick from Liverpool fans. Some in terraces but a torrent on social media. Those fans should now have guilty regret as Gomez was sacrificing himself to help out his team.
Gutted to confirm that my season for both club and country is over… https://t.co/mwq8jOS8Rw
— Joe Gomez (@J_Gomez97) May 8, 2018
Gomez was very down when he stopped to do an interview after the Stoke game. The stick he got that day was unfair. Had played in pain with a swollen ankle to do a job for the team. Gifted young defender with big future ahead of him.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) May 8, 2018
Joe Gomez got lots of stick the last time he played, despite having a good season for us on the whole.
— LFC4LIFENET (@LFC4LIFENET) May 8, 2018
Sounds like he probably shouldn't have played in that last match anyway, which might explain why he struggled so much.
Get fit soon Joe, you've got a bright future!
Might be worth pausing before you tweet “bin him” or “he’s shite”. Especially when we have seen – this season – his enormous potential.
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Gomez is now added to Joel Matip and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as players we will not see until next season. Both Adam Lallana and Emre Can are in a race to be fit before the Champions League final on May 26th.