The news today regarding Joe Gomez’s injury won’t be confirmed until after his scan, but it’s looking increasingly likely that our centre-back will be out of action for a very long time – potentially the entire season – if reports of a torn patella tendon are true.
The injury wasn’t caused by a tackle in England training, which in truth, we’d have found harder to take, but by a simple movement that resulted in Gomez going down in complete agony.
Burnley keeper Nick Pope saw it happen and his explanation suggests it’s obviously a very bad one.
“Joe made a pass or movement with nobody around him and ended up on the floor and was obviously in a great deal of pain,” he told the Telegraph. “To see Joe go through something like that and see how much pain he was in wasn’t easy for me or any of the lads.”
Gomez has had plenty of serious injuries in the past, but this one seems like it could be the worst of the lot.
Liverpool are already without Virgil van Dijk for the season, meaning for the entire campaign, we’re down to one currently fit senior centre-back in Joel Matip, who has completed 90 minutes of football twice in 13 months.
It’s a drastic situation and one that needs to be sorted immediately in the January transfer window. Hopefully, Michael Edwards and Jurgen Klopp will have a top player ready to arrive on the first day of the New Year – much like van Dijk did in 2018.
Until then, let’s assume Fabinho is a central defender – with Jordan Henderson potentially having to turn into one as well.