No wonder Joe Gomez has a spring in his step.
Successive Premier League starts for Liverpool have been swiftly followed by the honour of being appointed England Under-21s captain.
It’s been a long road back for the 20-year-old defender after his world was rocked by two devastating injury setbacks. But all that hard graft has paid off.
The experiences of a rollercoaster start to his professional career has given him a new-found appreciation of the good times.
“Before, when I was out there doing it, I didn’t think about it so much,” Gomez told the ECHO.
“But when you get a bad injury and it’s taken away, you really realise what you had.
“When you’re out injured, you have a lot of time to think. There was a lot of time when I was sat there reminiscing.
“Those memories gave me the hunger and the desire to get back. That’s what really drove me.
“Not just to come back last season, but also to work through the off season this summer to ensure I could really push on. I always knew there would be a period of trying to get back to where I was before the injuries.”
Gomez made an instant impact for the Reds following his move from Charlton Athletic for an initial fee of £3.5million two years ago. Brendan Rodgers was so impressed that he put him straight in the side at left-back.
However, the youngster's progress was cruelly halted in October 2015 - just days after Jurgen Klopp had been named as Rodgers' successor - when he tore the ACL in his right knee while on England Under-21s duty.
On the cusp of a comeback in July 2016, he damaged his Achilles and was sidelined for another four months.
It was last November when he was finally given the green light to return to action and after two months with Liverpool Under-23s, he got his chance in the FA Cup tie against Plymouth.
Humble and dedicated to his profession, the applause from his team-mates when he returned to full training at Melwood was testament to how highly he's regarded by his peers both as a player and as a person.
The stage was set for Gomez to kick on in the second half of last season but he couldn't force his way into Klopp's Premier League plans. He was still striving to rediscover the sharpness he had prior to his long absence.
"In myself I felt good but sometimes a manager knows best," he said.
"I knew that the cup games were probably my best chance of playing and we got knocked out early in the FA Cup.
Joe Gomez of Liverpool is shows a yellow card by match referee, Graham Scott during The Emirates FA Cup Third Round Replay (Image: 2017 Getty Images)
"It was tough at the time but this is a massive club and there’s bound to be a lot of competition for players. There's world class talent here so that doesn’t make it easy to get in the side.
"During that time I just had to keep training and learning. It was still a valuable time as in training I learned about the style and the type of play the manager wants."
Gomez gave up the opportunity to go to the European Under-21 Championships in Poland this summer in order to focus on getting a full pre-season under his belt for his club.
He also took on board Klopp's advice to lay off the weights. The manager felt the defender had bulked up too much during his time on the sidelines and that was hampering his mobility.
"When you’re in rehab, you want to do everything you can," Gomez said.
"All you can do really is try to strengthen your body. You're worried, it’s in the back of your mind ‘I don’t want this to happen again’.
"I wanted to make myself as strong as possible in order to avoid any future injuries. I didn’t want to waste my time sulking and feeling sorry for myself.
Joe Gomez gets between Georginio Wijnaldum and Emre Can (Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
"But the manager preferred that I stopped doing the upper body stuff. He’s the one who watches us train and analyses us. The bulkier you are, you can be more powerful but agility wise it can have an impact.
"There is only so much power and strength you need. The main thing is to be mobile, especially you're playing at full-back. It's more important to be able to get up and down.
"It was a positive that I was able to adapt. This pre-season felt like a fresh start for me."
Earlier this summer there was talk of Gomez going out on loan with Premier League new boys Brighton keen to secure his services.
But he wanted to prove to Klopp that he could have a role to play for the Reds this season and he achieved that emphatically.
Gomez, who is equally at home at full-back or centre-back, came off the bench at Watford on the opening weekend.
When he was named in the line up to face Crystal Palace, it was the first time he had started a Premier League match since the trip to Old Trafford in September 2015.
"Natually, a loan was going to be an option this summer," he said.
"Everyone saw that I didn’t get many games last season but I said in pre-season I wanted to fight.
"There's nothing I'd rather do more than play for Liverpool. I'd pick this option all day. You have to hope you get that opportunity.
"When the manager said he wanted me to stick around and challenge that was great to hear because it’s what I wanted too."
With Nathaniel Clyne sidelined, teenager Trent Alexander-Arnold started at right-back for the Champions League play-off battles with Hoffenheim but Gomez has got the nod for the past two league matches.
"Trent is a top player and has done so well," he added.
"I think we’re different in our ways but we’ll keep pushing each other and trying to bring out the best in each other. The main thing is that the team gets the results we need."
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez of Liverpool during a training session at Melwood Training Ground on April 29, 2017 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Having shone against Palace, Gomez delivered another outstanding performance in last weekend's 4-0 rout of Arsenal.
Rock solid defensively, he also made a big contribution going forward - providing the cross for Roberto Firmino to open the scoring. Gomez is well and truly back.
"It was just great to be part of such a good team performance," he said.
"The main thing was the win and it was a massive win for us coming off the back of the great result against Hoffenheim.
"Everyone knows the stature of Arsenal. They’re a top club with a lot of quality in their team so to beat them like that was big for us.
"You want to get off to a good start and we’ve done that. We've qualified for the Champions League and seven points from three games is positive but we need to keep it going.
"Hopefully everyone comes back fit and healthy after the internationals and we maintain that momentum.
"Everyone knows what I’ve been through with the injuries. The main thing for me is putting all that behind me.
"It’s time for me to let all that go and just enjoy playing my football."
We often say this ironically, but Gomez is indeed very much like a new signing. What are your impressions so far? Whenever he played CB in pre-season and in cup games last season I wasn't too convinced, but he always looks good at FB – maybe at this stage that's just his best position. In time, as they learn to read the game better and bulk up, some defenders successfully transition from FB to CB: Sergio Ramos, Jerome Boateng, Howedes, Carra, Maldini etc.
Obviously his assist for Firmino's goal vs Arsenal is a highlight and I especially liked that it was a left-footed cross – he seems pretty ambidextrous, so will probably be just as good on the left (where he first broke through under Rodgers, of course). Klopp seems a big fan and maybe the competition between Trent and Gomez (and Moreno/Robertson on the other side) can push them all to a completely new level (and if not, there is always Milner and Clyne to steady the ship). For the first time in years, we seem to have some real talent, energy and competition on the flanks of the defense.
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