"If he was an inch taller he'd be the best centre-half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in – I'd check the milkman."
This was Sir Alex Ferguson ’s famous assessment of Gary Neville during the legendary Scot’s time as Manchester United manager.
With the former England international standing out 5ft 11, it would appear Jamie Carragher was right when discussing full-backs he quipped: “You're either a failed winger or a failed centre-back. No-one wants to grow up and be a Gary Neville.”
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Such remarks are amusing and do contain an element of truth. After all, English football traditionally demands its centre-backs to be big, tall and strong. If you’re not 6ft tall, at least, then you’re not a centre-back.
Except United are about to break that narrative with their third signing of the summer after the Red Devils agreed a £57m deal with Ajax to reunite Lisandro Martinez with his former manager Erik ten Hag. The Argentine will be a unique prospect in the Premier League this season with the centre-back only standing at 5ft 9.
Yet he still won more aerial duels per 90 minutes than United captain Harry Maguire managed last season, suggesting he still finds a way to dominate in the air despite his lesser height. Either way, it’ll certainly be interesting to see how the 24-year-old fares against the likes of Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez in the upcoming campaign following Man City and Liverpool ’s decisions to sign old-school centre-forwards.
Martinez’s height is certainly in stark contrast to the Reds’ own centre-back options.
“Take a walk around my centre half, gentlemen. He’s a colossus.” That was Bill Shankly’s famous declaration when the media first clapped eyes on Ron Yeats in a Liverpool kit back in 1961.
Now, over fifty years on, and the Reds arguably have three colossuses in Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joel Matip. The sturdy Dutchman and burly Frenchman both stand at roughly 6ft 4, and while the Cameroonian’s frame is more slight, he is even taller at 6ft 5.
Yet this is a telling sign of how centre-backs have grown over the past five decades. After all, despite Shankly’s awe of his compatriot in 1961, Yeats was comfortably shorter than Jurgen Klopp’s current quota.
“Jesus, you must be seven feet tall, son?” Shankly said when he took his own first walk around his new centre-back. “No I am only six feet tall,” Yeats replied. “Well, that’s near enough seven feet for me!”
Which brings us to Klopp’s fourth senior centre-back, Joe Gomez. Standing at 6ft 2, historically he is the perfect height. The England international is exactly what Ferguson would have secretly hoped for from Neville after getting a first look at his parents and signing him as an apprentice when still a teenage centre-back in 1991.
Instead, Gomez is not seen as domineering as his fellow Reds defenders. He failed to start at centre-back in the Premier League last season, having dropped down the pecking order at Anfield, and even when he is utilised in his favoured position rather than at right-back, he was still rarely sent forward to attack set-pieces.
But despite how he might stand when compared to Van Dijk, Konate and Matip, the 25-year-old is still a commanding figure at the heart of defence in his own right. Despite predominantly serving as Trent Alexander-Arnold’s back-up last season, he is no failed centre-back.
That’s why Liverpool were so keen to tie the defender down to a new long-term contract this summer, with the Reds believing his best years are still to come after committing his future to the club until 2027. While he might have rarely featured in his preferred position in recent months, club bosses still consider him one of the top English centre-backs.
And Van Dijk continues to rate Gomez highly, firmly believing that he will one day take his place in Klopp’s starting XI. "These two are going to take my place at one point though,” he said of the England international and Konate back in December.
Having fallen down the Liverpool pecking order after serious injury, Gomez had been linked with a move away from the Reds, with the likes of Newcastle United and Aston Villa said to be monitoring his situation, before he put pen to paper on his new contract. And despite his extended terms, there are still some that have tipped him to walk away sooner rather than later.
But it’s easy to dismiss him compared to his colleagues, and not just because of the injuries. After all, he only cost £3.5m, not a club-record £75m. He’s not as big as Konate or as good on the ball as Matip. And he’s just not Van Dijk, but who is?
From Liverpool’s three Champions League final appearances under Klopp, he is the one senior centre-back not to start. But, joining as a teenager, he is the one the Reds have invested most in behind the scenes and still believe his best years are yet to come.
If he was a couple of inches taller, he could be the best centre-half in Britain. But he’s already pretty decent. Gomez might not be a colossus, and while he has it all to prove again at Anfield to force his way back up the pecking order, he’s still very much part of Liverpool’s future.
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