Liverpool defender Joe Gomez has admitted that this season has been a bittersweet one for him personally, with injury woes limiting his game time.
Gomez had been a starter for Liverpool at the beginning of the season alongside Virgil van Dijk in the heart of the defence.
But a serious ankle injury was suffered in December against Burnley which caused him to miss four months of action before returning in April.
In an interview with the club’s official website, Gomez has spoken of his frustration at his injury-plagued season:
It’s probably underestimated a bit how much it can affect us as footballers. Like it might just seem that you’re injured and now you just watch the boys, but it hurts – especially a year like this that was pretty historic.
To watch a large majority of those games, having had a taste of it at the beginning, was difficult to take. Obviously it was nice to overcome it and get a bit of involvement at the end. We’ve just got to move on now and we’ve got a big game. There’s a lot of ups and downs, but it’s all a learning curve.
This injury was a real setback for Gomez, as he was impressing for the first team, regardless of whether he played at right-back or at centre-back.
He has featured in just 16 Premier League games this season, but he will likely be in the squad for Liverpool’s Champions League final against Tottenham on June 1.
Gomez will be hoping to push on next season and become a mainstay in the Liverpool first-team.
