Aston Villa in pursuit of £30m-rated Liverpool defender Joe Gomez, Gerrard a ‘big fan’ – report
Aston Villa are in hot pursuit of Liverpool and England centre-back Joe Gomez, according to the Irish Daily Mirror.
The Irish Daily Mirror claimed via their print edition on Thursday (30 June, page 50) that Gomez could be given a lifeline at Aston Villa, who are managed by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, after he dropped down Jurgen Klopp’s pecking order on Merseyside.
It is understood that the England international is valued at £30million and Gerrard is a “big fan” of him as he considers strengthening the Villa defence this summer.
Gomez has had an injury-hit spell at Anfield, making just 87 league appearances in his seven years at the club (Premier League).
With Liverpool signing Ibrahim Konate and Joel Matip going from strength to strength last season, Gomez was limited to just eight Premier League appearances last season.
Gomez move is a confusing one
Villa have worked hard to improve their centre-back offerings over the last two windows, and they have made great strides in doing so.
Calum Chambers and Diego Carlos have come in, adding to Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Kortney Hause.
The structure of their defence is simple, with Mings being the main man and Carlos and Konsa expected to battle it out for the other berth.
In short, Villa do not need Gomez.
Villa have long needed a top-quality defender to come in to push Mings and focus his mind, but they now have that with Diego Carlos.
Konsa and Chambers are also very capable defenders, with the latter surprising many fans with a string of strong performances after arriving from Arsenal.
While Hause probably is not Premier League quality, he is at least happy to sit on the bench and play a backup role.
The report states that Gomez is rated at £30 million, which would make it Villa’s second most expensive transfer in their history after Emi Buendia.
While there is a very good defender in there if you can keep him fit, that is a massive gamble to take for a fee like that.
Unless Villa plan on switching to a back three, which seems unlikely, the move just does not seem to make that much sense.
In other Aston Villa news, Alan Hutton has told Villa to build a strong relationship with QPR after Michael Beale’s appointment.