Joe Gomez is finished at Liverpool

Is Joe Gomez finished at Liverpool?

Asking whether Joe Gomez is finished at Liverpool seems like a ridiculous question when you take into account his age, athletic qualities, and overall potential. At just 23 years old, the former Charlton Athletic defender has everything you need to be the very best.

He’s 6ft 2in, strong and has dynamic pace. He reads the game as well as any center-back in the league and has shown supreme leadership qualities since the long term injury to Virgil Van Dijk was confirmed.

He’s a young player and has made enough mistakes to warrant criticism, but I don’t think anybody would deny that Gomez has the potential to be one of the best defenders in the world.

However, there is a major issue that could curtail his progress and ultimately see his career at Liverpool cut drastically short, that issue is injuries.  I have heard many fans compare Gomez to the forever injured Daniel Sturridge and I spent a lot of my time defending Joe against this claim.

Sturridge simply had muscles made out of candy floss and was continually tweaking or straining them, while Gomez has been unlucky with major problems that could have happened to anybody. A serious knee injury was followed by a fractured leg that took longer than expected to heal.

But after his recent knee operation following an incident while training with England I was shocked to learn that since signing for Liverpool in 2015, Gomez has only played 79 league games for the club. That’s an average of around 16 games a year and in my opinion, this simply isn’t enough from a player that we want as a stalwart in defence for years to come.

You also have to ask what effect these significant injuries will have on his body. Will he come back as strong as before? Will the extended time off hamper his confidence and potential development?

Unfortunately, it’s coming to a point where there are far too many questions surrounding him and when that happens you would have to think that it’s time to move on and find someone more reliable for the future of the team.