Liverpool will be without Joe Gomez for the foreseeable future.
The 23-year-old picked up a serious injury in England training this week and the Reds have revealed that he has since undergone knee surgery.
It’s a crushing blow for the Liverpool centre-back who in five years on the Anfield club’s books has already had his fair share of injuries.
He first did his ACL – which is a more severe injury than his current one – as an 18-year-old while playing for Gareth Southgate’s England Under-21 side back in 2015, culminating in a full year of missed football.
Southgate – who is now Three Lions boss – revealed earlier this week that it was an ‘upsetting’ spectacle to see Gomez in so much pain immediately after his latest setback.
Micah Richards knows a thing or two about long-term injuries himself and although the former Manchester City defender claims that very few people will understand Gomez’s physical and mental anguish right now, he has backed the physios for England and Liverpool to get him back in good shape.
He told The Daily Mail: “People don’t understand what it is like to come back from a serious injury. Even when you return, you can play games but you know you don’t feel 100 per cent right. For some people it takes 18 months to get back to their best. To see him get injured, it’s horrific. You can get over muscle injuries but when it is your knee, it is different.
“He is going to be a big miss for Liverpool and England. He’s an incredible talent — a top player and an even better person. But he will get back from this: he’s got the best physios supporting him. They will get him back.”
Liverpool failed to offer a timescale on his return, meaning that the public are virtually in the dark over exactly how long it’ll take.
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