In the end, it wasn’t the season Liverpool supporters had dreamed about to send Jurgen Klopp off.
Klopp’s announcement that he would be leaving the club this summer had reshaped what Reds fans were hoping for from 2023/24.
Still in with a shot at all four titles in March, Liverpool disintegrated over the final two months of the campaign. As Darwin Nunez has told press back home in Uruguay, it was a disappointing finale for Klopp.
Nevertheless, there was still plenty to be positive about. A number of the Liverpool squad had excellent seasons, with Virgil van Dijk perhaps the pick of the bunch.
According to Trent Alexander-Arnold though, Van Dijk was not the only Liverpool player to have an ‘exceptional’ season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold hails Joe Gomez season
Alexander-Arnold himself was having a really good season right up until the point he got injured in February.
After that, there were still glimpses of the 25-year-old’s quality, but he wasn’t in the frame to scoop Liverpool’s player of the season award.
During Trent’s time out of the picture, two players filled in for him at right-back. Young Conor Bradley stepped up brilliantly, while Joe Gomez did a fine job, too.
And speaking to liverpoolfc.com about both his deputies, Alexander-Arnold hailed the way the two players had come into the team.
“You just want people to step up and help the team win games. Conor did really well throughout that time to be able to step in and do really well,” says the right-back.
“Of course Joe Gomez as well, who was exceptional over the course of the season. Both of them have been really good.”
Will Joe Gomez have a role under Arne Slot?
Prior to last season, Gomez’s Liverpool career was under real scrutiny. Coming off the back of a terrible season, the defender was lucky not to have been sold.
In the end, it was a good job that he wasn’t. Gomez was incredibly important to Klopp, filling in all across the back line.
This versatility saw the 27-year-old return to the England squad after over three years and Gomez has since been named in the provisional group for Euro 2024.
But with Liverpool reportedly looking to add a centre-back this summer, there are questions over where Gomez’s future lies.
There have been claims that Arne Slot could look to move Alexander-Arnold into midfield permanently. But in that scenario you would expect Bradley to make the step up. Gomez could be forced into being a utility man all over again.
Whether or not that’s acceptable for the Englishman we’ll have to wait to find out. But he certainly couldn’t have done more this season.