Injury Update: Klopp Not Expecting Joe Gomez to Play This Season

With the Liverpool center-back crisis continuing with no end in sight, Jürgen Klopp has been asked for updates on the status of each of his injured central defenders. We know that Virgil van Dijk is not returning soon. We also know that Joël Matip and Fabinho are still being evaluated after their injuries yesterday and will likely miss some time.

We now also have a new update on Joe Gomez, who had surgery to repair a ruptured patellar tendon in November. While Klopp is pleased with the Englishman’s recovery thus far, he made it clear that we shouldn’t expect to see Gomez on the pitch in the near future.

“Joe Gomez is actually in a pretty good place, but far away from being back,” said Klopp. “So he walks round looks completely normal, but is not yet out on the pitch running. It was just a really tough injury as well.”

It’s encouraging to hear the manager say that Gomez is in a good place, but hearing he has not yet resumed running immediately gives one the idea that he still has a long road ahead of him.

Upon being asked directly if Gomez could return this season, Klopp was unsure, but he admitted that he’s not expecting it.

“Will he be available this season? When does the season end, May? It will be close at least, I would say. I don’t expect (it) - and I would be positively surprised if he would be back this season, to be honest.”