Joe Gomez’s future at Anfield has surprisingly become subject to much speculation in what are now the final day of the January transfer window midway through the 2021-22 season.
The England international centre-back had firmed his credentials as one of the regulars on the Liverpool team sheet under Jurgen Klopp’s charge in recent years with his partnership with Virgil van Dijk in the heart of the defence proving critical to Liverpool reclaiming top-flight glory in the 2019-20 season following a 30-year-long hunt for the same.
Gomez, currently Liverpool’s fourth choice central defender option, has been on the unfortunate receiving end of long-term injuries, the latest of which came at the start of the current campaign and forced him to sit out a large chunk of the season.
Ibrahima Konate’s arrival in last summer’s transfer window, Jurgen Klopp’s only acquisition from the market heading into the start of the 2021-22 campaign, further added to Gomez’s fall down the Anfield pecking order with Konate’s impressive displays in his so far limited time on the pitch establishing him to be the go-to man to provide cover in the centre-back role.
Gomez has been marginalised to making the Liverpool starting XI in the Carabao Cup where the Reds are set to go up against Chelsea in the final next month in a game where the England international will hope to retain his berth on the team sheet should he still be a part of the Liverpool fold by then.
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He is yet to start a single top flight outing so far this season with the Liverpool centre-back pairing in Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip showing no signs of a downturn in performance as struggles for Klopp’s men in the recent past have been limited to misfiring displays in the final third of the pitch.
🚨 NEW: Steven Gerrard is aiming to test the water by seeing if Liverpool would be willing to loan Joe Gomez out to Aston Villa for the second half of the season. #awlive [mirror] pic.twitter.com/YetLDeVeqq
— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) November 28, 2021
The onset of the January window had given birth to talk of Aston Villa, now under the management of a Liverpool icon in Steven Gerrard, looking at Gomez as a viable name on the shopping list with the defender struggling to reclaim a regular berth for Jurgen Klopp’s Merseysiders.
Villa have started off well since Gerrard’s appointment to the top job but could do with some reinforcements to bolster the backline and Gomez’s current situation of finding himself on the fringes at Anfield has only fueled speculation of Liverpool bracing themselves for an offer to come their way to sanction the exit of the former Charlton Athletic man.
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Gerrard will be aware of Gomez’s talents out there on the pitch and how the 24-year-old’s arrival at Villa Park can help fortify his side’s defensive depth heading into the business end of the campaign and Aston Villa looking to cement a top ten finish in the league standings.
For Liverpool, it is sure to be a tough decision to make in the last stages of the mid-year transfer window, with Klopp unlikely to be open to parting ways with a player who has been an influential performer in the Reds shirt and is nowhere past his peak at just 24 years of age.
Quality options at his disposal could help Liverpool’s cause of pocketing a sizable bid for allowing Gomez to make the move to Villa Park but with speculation rife over another central defender in Nat Phillips calling it quits at Anfield, will the Merseysiders relent on two first-team names to leave in quick succession?
