Joe Gomez suffers serious injury on England duty

Liverpool fear central defender Joe Gomez has suffered a serious injury whilst on England duty.

Jurgen Klopp’s men are already in the midst of a central defensive crisis with Virgil van Dijk set to miss the rest of the season with a serious knee injury, Trent Alexander-Arnold out for four weeks with a calf strain and Fabinho – who has been deployed as a makeshift centre back – still to return from an absence with a thigh problem.

But Sportsmail understands that Gomez is now set for his own spell on the sidelines after sustaining an injury at England’s St George’s Park base ahead of Thursday’s friendly against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley.

The injury will almost certainly rule him out of the forthcoming international fixtures but Liverpool will now fear that Gomez misses a major part of their title defence.

The defender was sure to be a crucial part of Klopp’s plans during the coming months given the injury suffered by Van Dijk in his now infamous collision with Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford during the Merseyside derby.

But the Anfield club are now set to be without their key defender; a major blow as they head into one of the most hectic periods of the season.

With Van Dijk a long-term absentee and Gomez a major fitness concern, it appears increasingly likely that Liverpool will enter the transfer market in January to sign defensive reinforcements.

Klopp is likely to be furious that one of his players has suffered an injury ahead of an international friendly.

He has already been outspoken about players’ hectic schedules during what is a truncated season due to last season’s Covid delay.