Joe Gomez has revealed a period when he was on the verge of leaving Anfield for fresh surroundings, and he credits Virgil van Dijk, his center-back partner, with convincing him otherwise.
Jordan Henderson left Liverpool for Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League over the summer, making Gomez the current team member with the longest tenure.
Although he has played 182 times for the team and helped them end a 30-year league title drought in 2019–20, long-term ailments have dogged him the entire time he has been on Merseyside.
The defender recently disclosed that RB Leipzig had approached him before joining the Reds in 2015, and he also acknowledged in the same interview that he had considered leaving on loan just two years after his arrival.
“Subconsciously, [Van Dijk] had a big impact on me. When he was supposed to arrive in the summer of 2017 I was on the verge of taking out a loan, but then he didn’t,” Gomez said on the On the Judy podcast.
“Gini [Wijnaldum] and I were already close, and since he is also Dutch, it just came easy for the three of us to talk and hang around.
“Virg has taught me a lot off the pitch. It’s convenient to have someone to lean on like that.”
Following unsuccessful attempts to sign him in the previous summer, Van Dijk became the club’s most expensive acquisition in January 2018 when he joined from Southampton for £75 million.
Since then, Gomez and the future Liverpool captain have been close, and it seems that the Dutchman’s guidance has been essential from the start.
The two developed a strong defensive relationship that helped their team win the championship, and they have a great deal of respect for one another both on and off the pitch.
Due to his injury issues and the heightened competition brought on by Ibrahima Konate’s arrival in 2021, Gomez is finding it more challenging to maintain the regular football he once enjoyed.
However, the 26-year-old has taken advantage of his early opportunities from others’ absences this season, making nine appearances across all competitions thus far in 2023–24.