Joe Gomez looks set to leave Liverpool, with the defender attracting interest from AC Milan and Besiktas after saying his future at Anfield remains uncertain. The 28-year-old, who turns 29 later this month, has only a year left on his deal and admitted earlier this week that he did not know what would happen next.
"I think anything can happen. I don’t know is the honest answer. I’ve only got a year left, so I don’t know, but whatever is meant to be will be, I guess," Gomez said. He added: "But I’m so grateful to have had this time here at this club. I’ll always be grateful to have had 11 years at a place like this. All I can do is be thankful, and we’ll see."
That uncertainty matters because Liverpool are heading into another summer of change and Gomez is one of the few players who can cover centre-back and both full-back positions. He has regularly struggled with injuries in recent years, but his versatility has kept him useful in a squad that already looks set for heavy turnover. Andy Robertson is expected to go at the end of the season, Conor Bradley will not be ready to start the new campaign while recovering from knee surgery, and there has been little this season to suggest Jeremie Frimpong is the long-term answer at right-back.
Liverpool have already leaned on makeshift solutions there, using Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai as emergency right-backs this season. Jones might also be on the way out, while Robertson is being waved goodbye at season’s end. If Alisson Becker moves to Juventus, Gomez would become Liverpool’s fifth most senior player in age, a striking marker of how quickly the squad could be stripped of experience.
The wider picture is even starker. The seven-times European Cup/Champions League winners are facing a second successive summer of major squad change, with Alisson weighing up a move to Juventus and Ibrahima Konate six weeks away from leaving on a free. Curtis Jones could depart if contract talks do not move, Federico Chiesa is effectively finished at Anfield, Cody Gakpo is up for sale and Harvey Elliott will not be brought back into the side when he returns from loan. In that setting, Gomez’s ability to plug gaps has become invaluable, even as the latest signs point toward an exit rather than a renewal.
For Liverpool, the problem is not just losing another defender. It is losing one of the players who has helped them hold the line through constant change, and the next few weeks will decide whether that familiarity disappears too.
