Liverpool scouts 'spotted' watching transfer target amid Joe Gomez uncertainty

Joe Gomez’s future remains undetermined. Even though he has not yet left Liverpool, it has been claimed that the club’s scouts spent the weekend watching a player who would make a replacement of sorts.

Gomez’s value to the club goes beyond his playing skill. The 27-year-old is a homegrown player who can operate in multiple positions. Despite being a right-sided center-back by trade, the England international was used in each section of the back four last season and was even deployed in defensive midfield at times.

If he is to be sold this summer, it would behove Liverpool to secure a new player with a similarly versatile profile. It has been reported that the club’s scouts were watching Feyenoord last weekend. It’s defender Lutsharel Geertruida fits the multi-purpose bill, and while he doesn’t tick the homegrown box unlike Gomez , he is incredibly well known to Arne Slot .

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The Reds’ new head coach has used Geertruida on 127 occasions, more than any other player in his managerial career. Similarly, the Netherlands international has featured in at least 74 games more for Slot than for any of his other managers.

Per Transfermarkt , he has played six different positions across his career, including all of those which Gomez filled in 2023/24. Geertruida is primarily a right-back, with 147 appearances in that role, but he has also amassed significant experience at center-back (with 99 games) while also turning out at defensive midfield (20 times), left-back (five), central midfield (twice) and right midfield (once).

According to HITC , Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City all had representatives in attendance at Feyenoord’s 5-1 win over PEC Zwolle on Sunday. Whether any of them were present to check out Geertruida is unconfirmed, but they will have seen the 24-year-old captain Slot’s old side to a big victory while stationed at right center-back.

It is likely that the Premier League clubs sent scouts to evaluate multiple players. The likes of David Hancko, Quinten Timber, Calvin Stengs and Santiago Gimenez have all been linked with moves to England, with the former supposedly under consideration by Liverpool too.

HITC has also reported that Villa is in talks with Feyenoord for Geertruida . If that is the case, Liverpool will need to make a move soon if it wishes to reunite the multi-position defender with his former boss at Anfield . The exit of Gomez would demand the Reds sign just such a player.

Liverpool.com says: Liverpool was rumored to be interested in plenty of Borussia Dortmund players in the early years of Jurgen Klopp's reign, so the links with the Feyenoord squad are to be expected. Geertruida has already been to see the Reds , so perhaps the club's scouts were merely repaying the compliment.