Jurgen Klopp says Livepool want to help Joe Gomez develop
Friday 6 January 2017 23:51, UK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says defender Joe Gomez was well worth keeping room in his squad for.
The 19-year-old is set to play his first senior match in 16 months in Sunday's FA Cup tie at home to League Two Plymouth, ending a long wait for both the young centre-back and his manager.
Gomez is the only player in the official first-team squad not to have featured in any match under Klopp, having sustained a serious cruciate knee ligament injury on England U21 duty four days before the German's first match in charge back in October 2015.
And now Klopp is looking forward to watching the youngster in competitive action for the first team, following some outings for the U23 side.
"It is worth keeping space in the squad for Joe," said the manager.
"Sometimes life should be nice and the train is not running away without you and that is what we always thought about.
"We took him for a reason before I was here [Gomez was signed by Brendan Rodgers from Charlton for £3.5m in June 2015] - and it was a good reason.
"Everyone is sure about his quality but he is still a very young boy.
"We will try to somehow create some space so he can develop and perform when possible."
Gomez's rehabilitation meant he spent long hours at the club's Melwood training ground and was there long after active members of the squad had left.
And that put him into regular contact with Klopp, who also puts in long hours.
"For a player who has never played for me we have a good relationship," said the German.
"I spoke more to him than to most of the other players because we are always here longer than the players, so we had dinner together a lot!"
