Joe Gomez Reveals He Turned Down RB Leipzig Before Joining Liverpool
Joe Gomez has revealed he turned down the chance to sign for RB Leipzig shortly before he joined Liverpool. The defender has spent nearly his entire senior career at Anfield having moved there in 2015 for £3.5million after a single season with boyhood club Charlton Athletic. Though injuries have plagued his career, he has nonetheless been an important player for Jurgen Klopp’s side, especially during their Champions League and Premier League title triumphs.
However, it could have all been very different had the England international headed to Germany instead.
‘In the January [of 2015], I went to Red Bull Leipzig,’ Gomez told the Total Media podcast. ‘I had only played half a season, 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. If you play in Germany [today], 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”.’
As Gomez points out, many young English players are heading abroad to hone their skills and get regular game time, with Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham at Borussia Dortmund and Fikayo Tomori at AC Milan great examples of this.
Leipzig and Liverpool weren’t the only clubs looking to sign the then-teenage Gomez, with the centre-back/right-back going on to explain why he chose the Reds.
‘In the summer, there was Liverpool, Bournemouth and [Aston] Villa, those were the three main options,’ the 26-year-old. ‘They are just contrasting routes, at the time they [Bournemouth] had Eddie Howe, a great gaffer, and it was a big decision.
‘I met Brendan [Rodgers] and I always had a soft spot for Liverpool. As a club, it had a warmth to it. I met Brendan and he was a likeable person.’
Gomez has gone on to make 182 appearances for Liverpool since 2015 and has won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Club World Cup in that time.
The defender is now hoping to help England reach the latter stages of Euro 2023 and is one of the most experienced players in Gareth Southgate’s squad.
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