Promising defender Joe Gomez signed a new five-year contract with Liverpool on Friday to extend his stay at the club until 2022.

The 19-year-old, who recently returned from a long-term anterior cruciate ligament injury, has put to pen-to-paper on a deal that improves his terms, though the changes don't come into effect until June 2017.

The England Under-21 international has made just nine first-team appearances for the Reds since joining from Charlton Athletic in June 2015.

Seven of those nine run-outs came before his cruel season-ending injury last year, but Gomez has shown enough to Jürgen Klopp behind-the-scenes to convince his manager to push for the club to table an improved deal.

His comeback was delayed by an Achilles setback suffered in the summer, and after Gomez returned to training in November, he made his first appearance in over a year earlier this month. He managed the full 90 minutes in an FA Cup third-round draw with Plymouth Argyle at Anfield.

He played another full 90 minutes in the replay, a 1-0 win at Home Park, and could earn further first-team minutes in the fourth-round clash with Championship outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Teenager commits long-term future to club

Gomez becomes the second player within three days - after attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho - to pen a new-and-improved contract with the club.

Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana are the next players expected to follow by signing fresh terms, while the club have stalled in talks with midfielder Emre Can over the German's alleged wages.

Klopp has huge belief in the quality Gomez, who can play across the back-four but is most likely to have a future at centre-back for Liverpool, having been impressed by him in training.

Though the Reds' No.12 progress has been somewhat halted by injury, having made a flying start to his maiden campaign at Anfield in a left-back position, Klopp sees Gomez as having a significant role to play over the coming years.

The German even rejected a number of approaches to take the teenager on loan from various Championship clubs recently due to his importance to the squad, although he would undoubtedly benefit from regular first-team football after such a lengthy period on the sidelines.

Chances for Liverpool are otherwise going to be limited, without European football to play for and with the Reds having crashed out of the EFL Cup semi-finals - increasing the importance of the FA Cup - though Gomez will likely be third choice centre-back when fully fit.

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About the author
Charlie Malam
Digital Sports Writer at the Daily Express. First-class Staffordshire University Sports Journalism graduate. Formerly VAVEL UK's Liverpool FC editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Contributor since June 2014.