Paul Robinson has admitted that he was ‘surprised’ to see Joe Gomez sign a new Liverpool contract.
The former England number one suggested that the 25-year-old could’ve moved on and became a ‘main centre-half’ at another club.
The ex-Charlton defender made just 21 appearances for the Reds last term (across all competitions) but recently put pen-to-paper on a new five-year-deal at Anfield.
“From his point of view, I’m surprised to see him sign,” Robinson told Football Insider (via TEAMtalk).
“I’m surprised he didn’t want to leave and become that main centre-half just like Van Dijk is at Liverpool.
“But on the other hand, he’s obviously been assured of game time and was happy with the role that was proposed.
“Within these five years there are still options to go out on loan and options to leave. It just gives the club that security with their asset and gives Liverpool four top-class centre-backs to lean on for this season.”
Our No. 12 did certainly struggle for game time last season, but that’s no surprise when Virgil van Dijk was back to his usual best and both Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate were outstanding alongside him when called upon.
The England international is clearly a talented defender, we’ve seen proof of that on plenty occasions during his time on Merseyside, but he’s also been unfortunate with injuries throughout his Liverpool career.
In the modern game, new contracts no longer mean that players won’t leave, they just offer some comfort and reassurance to the respective club that they will receive a bigger transfer fee for the player if another club does come calling.
With the World Cup coming up later this year in Qatar, Gomez needs regular first team football to be in with a shout of being included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the tournament, something that Robinson stressed Gomez will be hungry for.
“The situation could well change again next summer if he’s not playing as much as he wanted,” he added.
“The onus is now on him to show what he’s got now if he wants to get back into the England squad and become the partner for Van Dijk.”
We believe that on his day he is one of England’s best centre halves and if he continues to work hard on the training ground, his chance will certainly come.
We’ll hopefully be competitive on all fronts once again this season to ensure that he earns his fair share of game time throughout the campaign.