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Arne Slot believes Joe Gomez will remain at Liverpool when the transfer window closes but admitted he cannot guarantee it.
Newcastle were interested in signing the England international defender in June, if Liverpool had bought Anthony Gordon, while the versatile Gomez did not even make the bench for last week’s 2-0 win over Ipswich.
Slot picked Virgil van Dijk and Jarell Quansah as his centre-backs, with Ibrahima Konate as a substitute, while Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were his chosen full-backs, with Conor Bradley and Kostas Tsimikas preferred as their back-ups.
Gomez is Liverpool’s longest-serving player, after joining from Charlton in 2015, and Slot thinks the 27-year-old will stay as he explained his omission last week was in part because he had less of a pre-season than some other players.
“At this moment I am expecting everyone to be here but you are maybe even longer in football than I am,” he said. “Everything can change.”
Slot feels Gomez has been unaffected by the talk of a transfer and by being omitted. “It [his head] has been in the right place for three weeks,” he added. “He has worked really hard since he came back. He didn’t play a lot in the Euros and when he came back in the first sessions he couldn’t train the whole session so we had to manage his load and that was also a bit a reason why he wasn’t in the team on Saturday.
“But this week he had a good week in terms of load and how much he could do with the team. He is one of the players that I see new things from and learn things what I see from him, also combined with other players. It has been a good week for him and us until now.”
Slot believes Ryan Gravenberch has a lot to prove as a defensive midfielder after being given the first chance to become Liverpool’s No 6 this season.
They had hoped to sign Spain international Martin Zubimendi, who instead decided to stay at Real Sociedad, while Wataru Endo struggled in pre-season and Slot turned to Gravenberch.
“He brings certain qualities which we like but he only [has played] three games and he did well, only one of them was a game that matters in terms of the Premier League so he has a lot to prove in the Premier League. It is always about what the team around him do so if all the other 10 at Ipswich play s**t I don’t think Ryan can play a good game.”
