Slot sees ´new things´ from Gomez amid Liverpool exit rumours

Arne Slot has seen “new things” from Joe Gomez in recent weeks and has praised the centre-back’s work ethic amid suggestions he could leave Liverpool.

Gomez has been tipped to leave Anfield after falling behind Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konata and Jarell Quansah in the pecking order in the heart of defence.

He made 32 Premier League appearances throughout Jurgen Klopp’s final season in charge in 2023-24, yet 15 of those came from the bench and he was often fielded at full-back when the Reds endured injury problems.

Gomez was left out by Slot as his reign began with a 2-0 win at Ipswich Town last week, having been linked with a move to Aston Villa or Newcastle United.

However, speaking ahead of Sunday’s clash with Brentford, Slot hinted Gomez could be involved and praised his approach to training.

“He’s been in the right place for three weeks. He’s worked really hard since he came back,” the Dutchman told reporters.

“He didn’t play a lot in the Euros, we had to manage his load, that’s why he wasn’t in the team last week.

“This week he had a good week in terms of load. He’s one of the players I see new things from.”

In Gomez’s absence, Quansah partnered Van Dijk at Portman Road but was replaced by Konate at half-time, with Slot later explaining that change had been made in order to win more duels.

Liverpool won just 41.5% of duels in the first half as Ipswich produced an energetic display, with that figure creeping up to 54.5% after Konate replaced Quansah.

Asked how Quansah reacted to his withdrawal, Slot said: “In a way you would expect a player to react. I spoke to him immediately after the game.

“At the end of that conversation he asked if he could train on Sunday. So he should have done recovery, he wanted to train.

“Unfortunately, I think on Tuesday, he picked up a bit of an injury, so he couldn’t train on Wednesday, we will see if he can train today.

“He reacted in a way that every player should react. I don’t think there was that much in it, though.

“Maybe the language was a problem, what I said was that he did not lose every duel, but he lost one or two important ones, one of them just before half-time.

“From what’s been said to me, it sounds like what I said was that he lost every duel.”