The Unreliable Rumours Discussion Thread (Part 1)

[Quicksand]

@PaulRoJo

We must keep Joe. If necessary make it clear he will get games this season and, if he plays like he has previously, that he can reestablish his first choice partnership with Virgil. Remind him that this is how he became world class and he won’t ever find another partner alongside whom he can reach such a high level while winning the CL and PL. Explain that Gareth fucking Southgate may pick him for England but the only way he’ll become a starter is winning things at Liverpool.

Selling Joe sets us right back to where we were last season and there is no guarantee that, even if finding another replacement signing like Konate was possible and affordable, that he’d be happy starting as fourth choice. If we let JoGo go now then it shows a real lack of ambition.

Best post on Joe Gomez possibilities.

[redfanman]

@PaulRoJo

We must keep Joe. If necessary make it clear he will get games this season and, if he plays like he has previously, that he can reestablish his first choice partnership with Virgil.

I dont think that promise can be made. Matip has normally been first choice until he is out with a lengthy injury. Joe then got his run in the team until either he gets injured or loses form. We now have Konate added to the mix as needing game time and Matip has managed to stay fit - he has played more games this season than in his last two.

[Draexnael]

Quality teams have 4 top players for 2 positions, so we should be retaining Joe (not that I think he or the club are even entertaining selling/moving on).

[Kopstar]

@sandsoftime

Ah OK… I was of the belief he was a free agent a while back heading to College in America

That’s when we picked him up. After he had been released by Bolton.

[WeeJoe]

@PaulRoJo

If we let JoGo go now then it shows a real lack of ambition.

#NoGoJoGo

[WeeJoe]

VVD and Joel are both 30. Joe is 24. He’s gonna get plenty of games and have a great career with us. No way we should consider selling him

[AnfieldRdDreamer]

People saying Gomez won’t get games here have some damn good powers of prediction.

Matip has far exceeded expectations on fitness and availability and well on his way to his best season of availability while he’s been here. There is no guarantee (in fact it’s against the odds already) that Matip will continue to be as regularly available.

Konate is doing fantastic but he’s not had the best availability history up to now.

VvD is doing great but we are about to have lots of games close together so he will need resting and rotating more than we usually do unless we want to risk him getting an injury.

Even if Gomez does remain being our 4th choice CB he will get games between now and end of year. Even if he was starting its not going to stop that idiot Gareth Southgate playing his chosen boys regardless of form or talent, he’s got his favourites Gomez isn’t one.

But I don’t see Gomez as guaranteed to remain 4th choice. He’s coming back from a major injury and it’s a bit touch and go with his ability and athleticism right now. Klopp is clearly taking a slow and careful approach. But it wasn’t long ago that all CBs were fit and the starting partnership was Gomez and VvD and they were absolutely phenomenal keeping clean sheet after clean sheet. They fit together really well.

Lovren may have been upgraded with Konate now but its not a sure thing that Gomez can’t get back to that level or that Matip and Konate continue to both be in form and available. If all available and in their top form it’s not a sure thing who would make the best partnership with who. Its exciting to imagine Klopp getting that headache soon, especially as this is the latest into the season we’ve been still in 4 trophies for a long time.

Edit: I also think Gomez being versatile isn’t appreciated sometimes. Can offer a OK option at RB, better than some think, and an emergency option at LB. I’ve always suspected he’d make a fantastic DM option supporting/covering for Fabinho too. Shares a lot of physical traits and skills with Fab.

[redfanman]

@AnfieldRdDreamer

People saying Gomez won’t get games here have some damn good powers of prediction.

I dont think anyone has actually said that though have they? It’s the guaranteeing him games that’s the issue.

[Bekloppt]

Very few are guaranteed games. Even Ali is missing a final.
VVD and Mo are the only ones who are undroppable at the moment and even that can change.
You want players who are fighting for their place. No one should be complacent.

[Aurelio]

It’s absolute no to selling Joe form me.

[AnfieldRdDreamer]

@redfanman

I dont think anyone has actually said that though have they? It’s the guaranteeing him games that’s the issue.

I’d say all of these indicate the poster of the comments doesn’t fancy Gomez getting a lot of games with some down right predicting he’ll only be on the bench.

@Walshy07

Apparently Villa will test our resolve with a bid for Gomez.
Unfortunately for us he needs to move on as he is 4th choice.
He is rusty but with a run of games he’ll be as good as new.
I prefer him over Konate from what Ive seen of Konate so far to be honest.
Just wonder if Gomez has lost his recovery pace since this latest injury?

@Walshy07

I think it comes down to the player at the end of the day.
Sit on our bench or play regular.

@sandsoftime

For that he also needs to be playing regular matches… While Matip is playing so well, JG can be nursed back to full recovery and it might just be a case of him remaining patient for a while longer

@Neukölln

I applaud his ambition and would love to see him moved somewhere he can play regularly.

@deneb

Could we not find him a loan for the rest of the season so he can play regularly, build up his match fitness and confidence but not actually sell him?

@deneb

I don’t think he can get back to his best if he spends all his time on the bench.

@redfanman

I dont think that promise can be made. Matip has normally been first choice until he is out with a lengthy injury. Joe then got his run in the team until either he gets injured or loses form. We now have Konate added to the mix as needing game time and Matip has managed to stay fit - he has played more games this season than in his last two.

[Zoran]

You can put it like that, but you can also put it as he only played 11 times for England, had only one window when he was a regular starter. He’s not without his defensive issues and not without injury problems. Plus arriving to his last 2 years of his contract. Played 12 games last season, 12 games so far this season. I don’t see a big offer like that arriving.

[Zoran]

I think he might, perhaps. There is life after Joe Gomez, after all, he was another one pretty much out of the blue. I’m not saying sell him, but perhaps there will also be a point where the parties move on. We’ll see how our other CB look like, because now we have two soon-to-be 31 year olds, Gomez behind and Konate a bit younger than Joe.

[Walshy07]

Not quite the €68m release clause price is it!

[ILLOK]

I don’t know how anyone can be so dead set against replacing Gomez long term given his injury history. His best level was over 3 years ago now, so it’s not only a question of whether he can return to that but it’s whether he can stay fit full stop.

Definitely shouldn’t be selling him this month, but if he was to be replaced with a player with a much better fitness record that would be understandable.

[Hope.in.your.heart]

@redfanman

@Nikola

If it was up to me, I’m not sure I would decline a bid of 50-60 million pounds

I would be surprised we get offered anything close to that…

Yup, I’d be surprised too. He’s a fantastic player when fit and on song, but he’s currently still far away from that. I can’t see any club signing him for such a fee, especially given his dodgy injury record over the years.

Also as others have said, it would be a folly to sell him right now, even for such a high fee, because we’d then be short of a quality quartet in central defence. Especially with Phillips moving on apparently.

IF such a massive offer comes in during the summer, and the recruitment team have a quality replacement in sight, then it’s maybe another situation…

[Hope.in.your.heart]

No plans to let Gomez leave

12:40 25 January

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Mandeep Sanghera, BBC Sport*

Liverpool have no plans to let England defender Joe Gomez leave the club.

Real Madrid were reported to be monitoring the 24-year-old, while Aston Villa have also been linked with the player.

Gomez missed most of last season after suffering a knee injury on England duty in November and, although he has made just 12 appearances during the present campaign, the Anfield club are not thinking of letting him go anywhere.

[DanLFC]

Think we over rate our players a bit sometimes. I’ve seen Joe have some decent patches and runs of games but I’ve also seen him have some terrible games where he looks completely at sea.

He has a terrible injury record to throw in as well if I’m honest I would snap Villa’s hands off if a decent offer arrived.

If we dont get the offer for Nat we want then I’m happy for him to stay as 4th choice and for Jo to move on. The reality is that Virg and Matip will both have at least a few more years with us. The way Virg plays he could be starting for us for another 5-7 years and then we have Konate who is younger than Joe waiting in the wings to replace Matip.

I dont want him to go at any cost but if the right offer arrived I would let him go.

[AnfieldRdDreamer]

@DanLFC

Think we over rate our players a bit sometimes.

MASSIVE case in point;

@DanLFC

If we dont get the offer for Nat we want then I’m happy for him to stay as 4th choice

We owe Phillips a lot buy its telling that nobody has yet jumped at the chance to snatch our hand off for a young, English CB at around £12-15m! Even clubs like Watford and Newcastle are only considering him as a squad option to challenge for starts and not a default starter. Should always get a warm reception here for heroics playing out of his skin for us last season but even if he was available on a free none of our rivals would sign him as one of their first 4 CBs. He definitely shouldn’t fill that role for us.

There’s some kind of disconnect if people are legitimately preferring Phillips as 4th choice CB over Gomez regardless of the finances involved. Gomez and VvD at one point was performing at a truly world class level.

[aussielad]

Double.

Surely Gomez is worth at least double that