‘The worst news’ – Andoni Iraola provides Joe Gomez injury update and Jeremy Jacquet fitness plan
Sport
Paul Gorst Liverpool FC correspondent
06:00, 26 Jul 2026
Andoni Iraola admits the injury to Joe Gomez is “the worst news” of Liverpool’s pre-season tour so far
But the new head coach says he expects Jeremy Jacquet to feature in the final pre-season fixture of the United States trip, against Leeds United on August 2
Joe Gomez captained the side that beat Sunderland 4-2 at GEODIS Park in Nashville on Saturday but lasted just eight minutes before being withdrawn
It’s unclear at this stage what the severity of the problem is, but the long-serving defender was able to walk off the pitch before Ifeanyi Ndukwe replaced him, partnering fellow teenager Mor Talla Ndiaye
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“Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe,” Iraola said
“We were happy because we were going through training without losing any players and unluckily for us we’ve lost Joe straight away.”
Summer signing Jacquet didn’t feature against Sunderland with the club keen to build up more fitness through training after season-ending shoulder surgery in February
And Iraola also provided an update on the £60m centre-half’s condition following the victory
He says he expects Jacquet to be available for the game against Leeds United at Chicago’s Soldier Field next Sunday, adding to LFCTV: “With Jeremy we decided to take it easy with him
“He’s had a lot of months without playing with his shoulder injury, he’s been training very well, but we’re going to take it easy with him
“He will play probably in the last game of this US tour, he will have time to have minutes, but we were kind of happy, but we’ve lost one now.”
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Liverpool will now fly back to their Chicago base before a trip to New York to meet Championship side Wrexham on July 30 (July 31 in the UK)
Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch will resume training with the Reds in Chicago and could come into contention for the game against Wrexham
