Joe Gomez admits he thought his Liverpool career may have been over three years ago - and has revealed how Virgil van Dijk's initial failure to move to Anfield affected his time at the club
Gomez is the longest-serving member of the current Reds squad
the defender is approaching 200 games for the club, the number would have been significantly higher had it not been for a succession of serious injury problems
Gomez has ruptured his knee ligaments, damaging his Achilles tendon, suffering a fractured leg and, in November 2020, rupturing his patella tendon.
When asked if there was an injury that could end his career,
Gomez said:
"Yeah, my last one. I got hit with an ACL early and that gave me a new perspective of having to stay on top of things.
"My ankle ones were semi-bad, but my last one with my knee... There weren't very many people for me (to relate to)."
"ACLs are kind of common and people can relate to that, but this one there was nobody. It was traumatic, I ruptured my patella and my kneecap was up here (points up his thigh).
"It was out the blue. ACL you feel okay and play on and get a scan, but this was was like a leg break in a way, you have that, 'oh my gosh, what's going on?'.
"I learned a lot about the body and myself. That one gave me a new perspective on the game as I didn't see it coming."
the England international has explained how he very nearly missed Van Dijk's impressive start to life at Liverpool.
Gomez
"Subconsciously he affected me a lot,"
"I was nearly going to go out on loan as he was going to come in the summer (in 2017), then he didn't come."
"I was close to Gini (Wijnaldum) already, and as he (Van Dijk) is also Dutch, the three of us would just naturally speak together and meet up and stuff. I've learned a lot from Virg off the pitch. It's nice to have someone like that to lean upon."
Gomez added
"At centre-half, you pay the price (for a mistake) with a goal. But at full-back I've come up against wingers such as (Leroy) Sane when he was at Manchester City, direct, the whole game I know is going to be a long one.
"There aren't that many direct wingers, Wilf Zaha is still of that nature, Raheem (Sterling).
"At centre-back it's more about concentration and not wanting to concede.
"If someone is bigger and stronger and more physical, you try not to engage in that sort of fight, try to avoid the pinning and stuff of that nature.
"That's why you see analysts before the game and visualise how you want to approach it. If I'm playing alongside Virg, the weaker link people see as me, so goal kicks, everything comes down my side. I just have to know my game."
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