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Too much is not enough.

Such is the maxim for the average football supporter during the summer transfer window, the unveiling of one shiny new signing merely increasing the appetite for another announcement.

Liverpool fans are no different. Naby Keita, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson Becker may have arrived at the cost of millions in recent months, but there's still the hope there could be one more.

One more. Just one more.

Jurgen Klopp knows from vast experience that business is never truly concluded until the clock ticks beyond the deadline.

However, there's one area of the team where the Reds boss has had little appetite to splash the cash this transfer window.

“When you see Joe Gomez playing in that role tonight as a central defender, he combines a lot of things you don’t find in the transfer market, to be honest,” said Klopp, talking after the 4-1 friendly win over Manchester United in the United States.

“You ask me now and I say no, but maybe if you ask me tomorrow I will say something different.”

Untimely injury aside, though, Klopp's work in strengthening the back line is done for the summer, even after it emerged the boss is facing a centre-back selection headache ahead of West Ham.

Indeed, Gomez looks set to start against the Hammers with doubts persisting over the fitness of Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan, as well as the availability of Dejan Lovren, who returns to Melwood today.

(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The return of Gomez has done much to convince the Reds boss he has plentiful strength in depth at the heart of defence.

Now 21, this will be a pivotal season for Gomez, a campaign likely to shape his Liverpool future.

Much of his Anfield career has been hampered by injury. Having started so brightly at left-back after being signed by Brendan Rodgers in the summer of 2015, there was the initial – and devastating – knee injury suffered mere days after Klopp's arrival in the October that kept him out for a year, and restricted him to just three FA Cup appearances the following campaign.

Last term, though, was different, Gomez a regular at right-back for two-thirds of the season where his form earned him a first England call-up, helping shut out both Germany and Brazil.

But having played through the pain barrier for a number of spring weeks – and been the target of criticism from an unknowing Anfield for subsequent below-par performances – the defender had to admit defeat and go under the knife to rectify an ankle problem.

It ruled Gomez out of the business end of Liverpool's Champions League run, with team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold taking his Reds role and a place in England's World Cup squad.

Now, though, Gomez is fit and ready. And with Lovren only scheduled to return to Melwood on Monday after his World Cup final exploits with Croatia, the opportunity is there for the Reds youngster at centre-back for the Premier League opener against West Ham United, not least with Matip less than 100% fit.

In fact, Gomez lined up alongside Virgil van Dijk in Ann Arbor for the defeat of United, and then again in Dublin.

(Image: Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

“Yeah, it's quality,” Gomez said in Michigan. “He's obviously a top defender and it's a great person for me to learn off and emulate.

“I'm enjoying the experience of playing alongside him.”

Gomez may have done well at full-back last season, but it's at the heart of defence that both the player and club see his long-term future.

Ensuring it is this season alongside Van Dijk is the challenge. Gomez, as it stands, is likely to be the man in possession for the visit of the Hammers, the chance to lay down an early marker.

Alexander-Arnold, no doubt mindful of Gomez's progress and Nathaniel Clyne's increasing fitness and form, was eager to return to Liverpool ahead of schedule after the World Cup.

Now Lovren will come back in the knowledge the competition for places at centre-back has intensified – without Liverpool having to spend a single penny this summer.