Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has claimed that defender Joe Gomez is enduring a rough patch in his career at Liverpool.
Gomez, 22, has started just seven matches across all competitions in what has been an action-packed season for Liverpool so far and has struggled to stay above Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren in the centre-back pecking order after Virgil van Dijk.
The former Charlton defender spent a lot of last season on the sidelines with injury and is yet to really show the form that he was showcasing before that setback last year.
However Ferdinand has tipped Gomez to return to form soon, adding that what the England international is going through is quite normal for young players.
“Listen, Joe Gomez is going through a sticky patch at the moment but young players have to understand that they’re going to get that,” Ferdinand told JOE, as shown via their official Twitter account.
“Even for the elite players that make it, there’s going to be down times and negative times in their career. Can you deal with it?
“Have you got the mental capacity, have you got the tools to deal with these type of things?
“Gomez is going through that now but he has all the attributes to be a top player.
“He’s shown over good periods of his career at Liverpool that he looks a top player that can come in, in a few years.”
OPINION
Gomez is 22-years-old but should not really be classed as a youngster anymore. He has 48 Premier League appearances to his name as well as seven caps for England. His 77 total appearances in a Liverpool shirt mean that he should have come to grips with things now and finding a level of consistency so his age is not really a massive excuse for his rocky form. It is likely that Gomez’s injury saw him regress a bit. Maybe his injury has seen his confidence get knocked or that he is just struggling to rediscover his form after spending so long on the sidelines. It says a lot that Jurgen Klopp is putting more faith in Dejan Lovren at the moment while Joel Matip is on the sidelines because most Liverpool fans would trust Gomez over the Croatia international. However based on form this season, Klopp is probably right to leave Gomez on the bench for Premier League matches and just start him in the Champions League and cup matches while he tries to get back to his best.
