As reported by Total Media, Liverpool defender Joe Gomez has revealed that he rejected the chance to join RB Leipzig before he joined his current club as he believed that he ‘wasn’t ready.’
Gomez made just 24 appearances for Charlton Athletic before he made the move to Merseyside at just 18 years old for €4m.
He has now played 182 times for the reds and was a regular in the side that won the 2019/20 Premier League title.
However, things could have been much different if Gomez took the chance to go to Germany.
“In the January [of 2015], I went to Red Bull Leipzig,” Gomez explained.
“I had only played half a season and they were still in the Bundesliga 2. In hindsight, they are a great club, but I wasn’t ready. I went with my mum, my dad and my missus wasn’t feeling it either. I knew I wasn’t ready, but the opportunity to go came up.”
Just a few months later in the summer of 2015, Gomez completed his move to Liverpool.
The 26-year-old has further explained that he may have made a different choice after seeing the success players have had in the Bundesliga previously.
“If you play in Germany now, the likelihood is you’re coming back. At the time, for me, there weren’t many examples of that yet. Maybe today I would be like, ‘wow, this is the way’ ,” said Gomez.
More English players are continuing to move abroad in order to progress their career further, with some having great success such as Fikayo Tomori in the Serie A and Jadon Sancho who earned himself a €85 million move to Manchester United after being given a chance to impress by Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
GGFN | Matthew Gritton`
