Arriving at Liverpool Football Club as an 18-year-old is anything but easy for a young lad, although his dream has always been to represent a big club and play Premier League football. It’s a story Joe Gomez has probably heard many times before.
The former Charlton player was brought to the Reds as a teenager and just three months into his stay on Merseyside he missed 104 games for club and country as a result of a serious knee injury. Since then, there have also been several ups and downs for the now 26-year-old defender.
In a recent interview with LFC, he talks about how he has become better at dealing with such situations since the first one occurred almost nine years ago.
– A constant wave of anxiety
– I was 18, right after my first injury. I felt a constant wave of anxiety, and I experienced another small loss of my identity. I put a lot of my confidence in being a footballer, and when that was taken away from me, my self-esteem dropped a bit, says Gomez.
The 1997 model, who could soon get a testimonial in a Liverpool kit after a decade at Anfield, suffered another long-term injury the following season, before playing an important role for the club on their way to Premier League gold in 2020. A few months after that again he went out with his third serious injury of his career, aged just 23.
Fortunately, he had already learned from his experiences as a teenager.
– Talking to someone at such times was crucial for me, and I believe that with time you find out what triggers that anxiety and try to find methods that work. It is very helpful because there will always be periods in life when things do not go smoothly.
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