Gomez: How Ings has helped with injury rehabilitation
Joe Gomez has admitted his recovery from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament would have been close to unbearable without Liverpool team-mate Danny Ings.
The defender suffered the season-ending setback while on England Under-21 duty in October. Just a day after he limped off against Kazakhstan, Ings was hit by the same problem during a routine training session at Melwood.
The blow came in Jurgen Klopp's first week in charge on Merseyside, with the duo later undergoing surgery in London.
Gomez, who has earned a place in Goal's 50 Best Players Under 18 list that will be unveiled on Wednesday, has now revealed how much the striker has helped him during the most difficult period of his career.
“We come in every morning, our schedule is quite set at the moment,” the 18-year-old told Goal.
“At first, I didn’t actually realise how much of a help he’d be during whole process. My injury hadn’t even properly hit me yet and Ingsy’s was a day later. It was gutting for us both and tough to take.
“We didn’t have time to digest it in the beginning, but there’s moments now I’ll be doing a session and think to myself ‘imagine if I had to do all this on my own.’ It would be hard to.
"He’s such an uplifting guy and that’s exactly what you need around you. We bounce off each other really well and it’s great that we can motivate each other during this period.”
Gomez also went into detail about his recovery programme, which has included training in different sports as he bids to become stronger ahead of his eventual return.
“The team are usually in much later, as the new manager likes training later, but we’re in early and we do swimming or a bit of boxing,” he explained.
“We like to get some cardiovascular work in to go with breakfast. Then we do a lot of strengthening work, to focus on core, balance and co-ordination.
"It’s just basically making sure that you’re getting stronger physically during this period while waiting for the bone to heal without aggravating it at all.”
Gomez has not kicked a ball under Klopp yet, but the manager is well aware of his qualities. The former Charlton academy graduate, who Liverpool signed in the summer for £3.5m, has already received plenty of encouraging words from his manager.
The confidence of Klopp, the company of Ings and the knowledge that he is highly thought of outside the club will provide comfort throughout his painful absence.
Source: Goal
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