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Speculation linking Joe Gomez with a Liverpool exit never seems to be too far away, and he is once again being touted for a move to AC Milan.
There was a possibility that Gomez could leave for the San Siro on deadline day at the beginning of September, but the uncertainty around and eventual breakdown of Marc Guehi's move to Anfield put paid to that transfer, and Gomez stayed put once again.
A year earlier, he was also linked with a move away, with a transfer to Newcastle on the cards, but he remained and played a crucial role last season, particularly in December, as Liverpool won the Premier League.
Now, less than two months on from the summer transfer window closing, Corriere dello Sport says that Gomez remains on Milan's radar, and that the player himself could push for a move if he continues to struggle for minutes.
However, understandably, it is reported that Gomez would only be allowed to leave with Arne Slot's approval, and if another defender was to arrive at Anfield to replace him.
Gomez has made just two substitute appearances in seven Premier League games so far this season, but he is surely unsellable after Giovanni Leoni sustained a serious knee injury.
Leoni's long-term absence leaves Liverpool with just Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, and Gomez as center-back options; even if Leoni hadn't picked up his injury, the Reds still probably wouldn't have allowed Gomez to leave — just as they didn't allow him to leave on deadline day because they didn't want to risk going into the season with just three center-backs.
Leoni will be out for a year, according to Slot, and the Reds' head coach named Gomez as one of the players who could support the youngster on his road to recovery, having suffered a similar injury as a teenager.
"We have some examples of that with Virgil [van Dijk] and Joe [Gomez], and there are a lot of examples all around the world," Slot said in September.
"That's why I said the positive thing is that he is still 18, so he still has a lot of time to go. If you get an injury like that when you are close to your retirement, it makes it much more difficult, maybe.
"But in both situations, it's far from ideal.
"I think the main and most important thing is the surgeons that are going to do the surgery, then second of all the ones that do the recovery, the rehab, with him.
"But then it's always nice if you can do this in a surrounding with players who have lived through this as well, they can give you the right energy maybe in certain moments.
"And I think our players already showed in the last two days a lot of compassion towards him, and they will not stop doing that in the upcoming year."
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