---
title: "Liverpool: Joe Gomez should be Harry Maguire’s long-term centre-back partner for England, says Jason Cundy"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/liverpool-joe-gomez-should-be-harry-maguires-long-term-centre-back-partner-for-england-says-jason-cundy/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Stephan Georgiou"
section: "Features"
published: "2019-10-13T19:15:00Z"
modified: "2019-10-13T19:15:00Z"
---

# Liverpool: Joe Gomez should be Harry Maguire’s long-term centre-back partner for England, says Jason Cundy

**TalkSPORT host and former footballer Jason Cundy believes that England’s first-choice centre-back pairing involves Liverpool’s Joe Gomez alongside Harry Maguire.**

Maguire was alongside Michael Keane as England slumped to a 2-1 defeat against [Czech Republic](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49929616) on Friday night, though Cundy feels that the Everton man is not the long-term solution at the back for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions.

Gomez, who has [seven caps](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joe-gomez/nationalmannschaft/spieler/256178/verein_id/3299) to his name, was an unused substitute in Prague and has not played for England since the Nations League third-place play-off against Switzerland back in June.

But speaking on [TalkSPORT](https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1183009730878431235), Cundy feels that the 22-year-old should partner Maguire – though he did highlight his indifferent form since coming back from a long-term injury in April.

He said: “For me, I think England’s best partnership at centre-half is going to be Gomez and Maguire. Do I think Gomez is a better player than Keane? 100%. It’s not even a battle, it’s not even close.

“The problem Gomez has got – he hasn’t played as many games as he, or Southgate, or even probably \[Jurgen\] Klopp would like – and when he has played, he’s looked a little bit ring-rusty, let’s be brutally honest.”

Gomez did have a rather disrupted campaign last season, with the defender missing [23 games](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joe-gomez/verletzungen/spieler/256178) for Liverpool through injury in 2018/19.

That absence saw [Joel Matip](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joel-matip/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/82105/plus/0?saison=2018&verein=&liga=&wettbewerb=&pos=&trainer_id=) replace him in the Liverpool side, though he was gifted 90 minutes in the 4-3 win over [RB Salzburg](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joe-gomez/leistungsdaten/spieler/256178) in the Champions League with the Cameroonian out [injured](https://liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/367051-liverpool-injuries-joel-matip-shaqiri-alisson-jurgen-klopp) himself.

While Gomez received his highest match rating this season (according to [WhoScored](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/136451/MatchStatistics/Joe-Gomez)) of 7.5 in that game, he was dropped to the bench for the visit of [Leicester City](https://www.skysports.com/football/liverpool-vs-leicester/teams/408054) with Dejan Lovren in his place, which may suggest he is not up to speed – but it may be peculiar he was not given the opportunity to put a run of games together with Matip unavailable.

However, there may be scope for his inclusion in the future – especially with Gomez starting ahead of Keane in the [Nations League](https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1374746/Live/International-UEFA-Nations-League-A-2018-2019-Switzerland-England) finals campaign despite only returning from [injury](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joe-gomez/verletzungen/spieler/256178) a couple of months prior and making just a [single start](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/joe-gomez/leistungsdaten/spieler/256178/plus/0?saison=2018) for Liverpool in that time.

Meanwhile, [Keane](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49560020) has exposed his flaws by gifting Kosovo a goal in September’s 5-3 win.

So while Gomez could put forward a solid case for a start, Southgate will certainly have a big decision to make in the wake of Friday’s minor setback.

\[freshpress-poll id=”251392″\]

***Liverpool fans, should Gomez start for England? Should he also be Virgil van Dijk’s long-term partner? Join the discussion by commenting below!***