Gomez may return earlier than feared

LIVERPOOL defender Joe Gomez has been offered hope he may play against this season after surgery on a serious knee injury.

The centre-back faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after damaging a tendon in his left knee while training with England’s squad at St George’s Park on Wednesday.

There were fears it was similar to the problem that has ended Virgil van Dijk’s campaign, but the Reds said Gomez’s surgery went well and there was no ligament damage.

They did not, however, put a timescale on his return and the 23year-old is still expected to face a prolonged absence.

A statement on Liverpool’s Twitter feed read: ‘@J-Gomez97 has undergone successful surgery to repair a tendon in his left knee.

‘The issue was isolated to Gomez’s tendon, with no damage to any associated knee ligaments and Joe will now begin a rehabilitation programme with our medical team.’

His presence in the treatment room along with team-mates Van Dijk and Fabinho is another blow to the Premier League champions, who are left with Joel Matip as their only fit senior centre-back.

Gomez, who was set to be involved in Three Lions games against the Republic of Ireland last night, Belgium on Sunday and Iceland next week, has not had much luck with injuries over the last few years.

He suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury while playing for Southgate’s England Under-21s in October 2015 and injured his ankle representing the senior team in a friendly against Holland in March 2018, before breaking his leg later that year.