Arne Slot has dropped a promising piece of Liverpool team news ahead of the Reds’ Premier League opener against Bournemouth on Friday night.
The Dutchman will have the bulk of his squad available for the clash at home to Andoni Iraola’s side, although Ryan Gravenberch is suspended as a result of his red card against Crystal Palace on the final day of last season.
Our centre-back options could soon be bolstered by the imminent arrival of Giovanni Leoni from Parma, and although he almost certainly won’t play a part in tomorrow’s match, there could be a boost to the defensive ranks from elsewhere.
Slot hints at potential Gomez return v Bournemouth
Joe Gomez flew back from Liverpool’s pre-season tour of Asia with an Achilles injury and hasn’t played since the friendly against Preston a month ago, but he did return to training this week.
In his pre-match press conference this morning, Slot hinted at the ‘possibility’ of the 28-year-old making the matchday squad for the Bournemouth game, depending on who else is available to feature.
The Reds’ head coach said (via Liverpool Echo): “With Joe, I have to make a decision on that. He missed a lot of pre-season and only trained twice. There is a possibility that he might be on the bench, but I have to look at the numbers and who we’re gonna take.”
Gomez is a hugely important presence in Liverpool’s squad
Liverpool were so light on centre-backs during pre-season that Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas, Trey Nyoni and Wataru Endo were all deployed out of their usual positions to fill a gap in that area of the pitch – not the most ideal scenario leading into the new campaign.
At least Slot had his first-choice pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate for the Community Shield last Sunday, but there was no central defender among the nine substitutes, which laid bare the lack of depth available to the head coach.
Gomez probably wouldn’t be a starter even with a fully-fit squad, but it’d still be most welcome to have him on the bench against Bournemouth if possible, just in case he’d needed should anything happen to either of his positional colleagues.
Having made just 17 appearances in an injury-ravaged 2024/25 campaign, it seemed plausible that the long-serving defender could’ve sought to move on and have a fresh start elsewhere. Instead, it was Jarell Quansah who departed for Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.
The 28-year-old mightn’t play a whole lot for Liverpool this season, even if he’s available for the most part, but to have a player of his experience and quality to call upon will be worth its weight in gold to Slot.