‘Insist on No Green Light’: Travel Timing An Issue for Liverpool in Race to Complete Deadline Day Deal

With the transfer window closing tonight, many clubs are rushing to complete deals, with paperwork and medicals to be processed before the 19:00 BST deadline. This may cause some issues with timings; in previous windows, the deadline had been at 23:00. Liverpool’s potential sale of Joe Gomez to AC Milan has hit a roadblock due to these problems.

Travel Timings An Issue for Liverpool Outgoing Ahead of Deadline

No Green Light for Joe Gomez

Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Liverpool “insist on no green light” regarding a transfer for Gomez to AC Milan. The deal is “currently off”, though it is unclear what the implications of the Reds signing Marc Guehi will mean, with a deal now in place for that move.

Reportedly, issues were with the timings of his medical and travel for this sale. With the deadline looming, he would have to fly to Milan and complete all tests quickly. It had once looked certain that Gomez would depart, should Guehi join, but the delay in signing the Crystal Palace centre-back may have caused issues.

Gomez an Important Player

Despite the plan being to let Gomez depart, keeping him may actually be an important move in what will almost certainly be a difficult title race. The centre-back provides great squad depth, and can be a good option towards the back-end of games: he came on in the 79th minute against title rivals Arsenal, and made more clearances and won more aerial duels than any other player in the match.

With Champions League football to be played alongside an almost inevitable deep run in either one of the domestic cups, plenty of squad options can only be a positive. A solid 20 games out of Gomez this season could be crucial, particularly if one of Virgil van Dijk or Ibrahima Konate picks up another injury.