Gomez ducked out of headers
Joe conquered fear at Charlton
JOE GOMEZ may be heading for Russia after his brilliant full England debut against Brazil on Tuesday. How ironic that the central defender’s biggest problem during his formative years was heading a football.
The Liverpool defender played superbly to keep Neymar at bay at Wembley, but there was a time, when he was at the Charlton academy, when the thought of an aerial challenge had him ducking.
‘Joe couldn’t head the ball well,’ recalls Steve Avory, Charlton’s academy director.
‘Defending corners in particular was a real problem. He could deal with shoulderto-shoulder contact, but in the air, he just couldn’t overcome it. I used to see him duck in matches.’
The former Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth manager Paul Hart worked one- on- one with Gomez at the Charlton academy to cure him of his fear.
Now Gomez looks to have an illustrious England career ahead of him but the 20-yearold hasn’t always stood out from the crowd.
When Charlton first considered admitting a 10-year-old Gomez to their academy, he was sent back to the club’s development centre in Lewisham to get up to speed.
‘He was with the Under 14s when I started watching him, but you didn’t automatically think he’d make it,’ said Avory.
‘It was a strong age group, we had the likes of Kasey Palmer ( currently on loan at Huddersfield from Chelsea) in the team and at first Joe didn’t stand out.’
Soon enough, though, people started to take notice. Gomez was playing regular Under 18s football for Charlton at 15.
He had his bad days, though. Avory recalls Gomez used to get ‘ emotional’ after a training session if he felt he hadn’t performed at his best.
But by 16 he was training with the first team, who were managed by Chris Powell, eventually making his professional debut as a 17-year-old.
‘When I called him into first-team training he adapted straight away — he had a physical presence and calmness about him,’ said Powell. ‘At the time there was a lot of Premier League interest in him. But he and his parents were very level-headed. His father made the decision for Joe to stay at Charlton because he knew it would aid his development. He knew he would play senior football at Charlton. It’s turned out to be a good decision.’
Eventually, Liverpool signed Gomez in 2015 for £3.5million after 24 appearances for the Addicks.
Injuries have curtailed his progress at Anfield but the decision to reject a loan move away in the summer has been fully justified.
With 12 senior games for Jurgen Klopp so far this season, Gomez can expect many more between now and May.
Then there are his two senior England caps. ‘I knew when he was called up by England that he would impress,’ said Powell. ‘ He is just that kind of kid.’
Among the dozens of messages that landed on Gomez’s phone after his England bow against Germany, one would have brought the memories flooding back.
‘Well done Joe, say hello to Gareth for me,’ wrote Avory.
Before joining Charlton, the youth coach had been a PE teacher at Hazelwick School in Crawley, where England manager Gareth Southgate was one of his many students.
The coincidence isn’t lost on Avory, who is bursting with pride after Gomez’s week to remember.
Frank Lampard presented Gomez with his match jersey at Wembley on Tuesday night. If Gomez keeps his head, he may get a chance to surpass Lampard’s 106 caps.