Joe Gomez was one of the Liverpool players to pick up a nasty injury last season. The young defender had started his career brightly for the Reds, even starting the first five games in the Premier League for former manager Brendan Rodgers before injury struck.
The 19-year-old picked up a knee injury while playing for the England U21s and then picked up another injury to his Achilles, which kept him out for almost a year. The former Charlton man is now part of the U23 squad and many tip him to return to the first team soon under Jurgen Klopp.
Gomez hasn’t played for the German manager at the moment but he did state how he was preparing mentally to get back on track in his Liverpool career.
“Towards the end, the final two months, I bought a calendar and put it on my wardrobe and I wrote out every day and ticked off every box,” Gomez said. (Quoted by Daily Express)
The youngster also stated that he used the calendar as a marker to keep a track of how much work he was doing.
“With the nature of my Achilles injury, I could write out my distances and I was checking off each week – ‘This week I finished 5k, this week I finished 8k.’
“That was massive for me because I was counting down and looking at the week itself, instead of focusing on a long-term goal.
“That helped me massively.”
A replacement now for Lucas in the side?
There are many reports suggesting that Lucas Leiva will be leaving the Reds in the January transfer window. The Brazilian has not featured regularly for the Merseyside club and is looking for more first team football.
There is another caveat in the deal with many suggesting that the player to replace Lucas in the Liverpool squad would be Gomez. The 19-year-old can play as a centre-back or left-back which would certainly help a leaky Liverpool defence in the second half of the season.
Lucas has been played as a central defender this season rather than as a defensive midfielder and this could be another reason why he wants a move away from the Reds.
Gomez, for his part, had only started training with the first team last month but has featured for the reserves regularly since returning from his long-term injury.
The Englishman would certainly provide stiff competition to James Milner, who has been deputising as a left-back for Klopp’s side. And it would be a welcome relief to Liverpool fans if they can get a proper defender playing in that position rather than a make-shift player, who has done well.
