Two teenage centre-backs signed for a combined £3.5m after impressing at the U17 World Cup in Qatar last November were supposed to be the future. Instead, they became Liverpool’s present for most of their opening pre-season fixture — forced into action when Joe Gomez limped off in the eighth minute against Sunderland.
Gomez, the club’s longest-serving current player, has now missed 225 games through injury since joining from Charlton in 2015. An update on the severity of this latest setback is expected this week, but new head coach Andoni Iraola had already warned his squad was “very thin” defensively even before the game. “We need players. It’s fairly obvious,” former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler told BBC Sport in New York, where the Reds face Wrexham on Wednesday. “I’m very sad for Joe Gomez, who has been so unfortunate with injuries. This could have been a real chance to cement his place.”
“Joe Gomez injury leaves Liverpool with only 35-year-old Van Dijk as fit centre-back, deepening crisis”
Virgil van Dijk, 35, is now the club’s only fit senior centre-back. The captain played every minute in the Premier League last season but, as Fowler noted, “he is not the force that he used to be.” Both Van Dijk and Gomez are in the final year of their contracts, raising the possibility both could leave next summer. Liverpool allowed Ibrahima Konate to join Real Madrid on a free transfer partly because they believed 21-year-old Jeremy Jacquet and 19-year-old Giovanni Leoni — signed for £60m and £26m respectively — were the best young centre-backs in France and Italy. But neither is fit yet; Jacquet is in line to make his debut against Leeds on Sunday. “We won’t see the best version of the young lads yet,” Fowler added. “You do need that experience in the squad.”
Meanwhile, Iraola is stamping his trademark intensity on the squad. Left-back Milos Kerkez, who thrived under the coach at Bournemouth before his £40m move to Anfield, described the sessions as gruelling: “If you see footage of how we all are after training, all lying down, then you can see what he is preparing us for.” Iraola keeps things professional, rarely getting too close to individuals, and introduces games with “consequences” — the losing team runs extra laps. “He’s intense and he likes details,” Kerkez said.
With only Van Dijk as a recognised senior centre-back and the young recruits still raw, Iraola’s immediate challenge is clear. The transfer window remains open, but the clock is ticking. As Fowler put it: “The manager’s been on record saying we need players.”