Liverpool deal for Joe Gomez will lead to questions over Andre Wisdom future says Jamie Carragher

Liverpool favourite Jamie Carragher has expressed hope that new recruit Joe Gomez can end the cycle of young defenders failing to make their mark at Anfield over recent seasons, while also claiming his arrival will inevitably lead to questions regarding the future of Andre Wisdom.

Versatile England U19 defender Gomez had only made 21 senior appearances in the Championship for Charlton Athletic during his short professional career to date, yet clearly did enough to convince visiting scouts and Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers of his potential and his £3.5m ($5.5m) move to Anfield was announced on 20 June.

Wisdom, meanwhile, featured 12 times in the Premier League for Liverpool during the 2012-13 season yet has not been considered a first-team regular since then and spent the last two seasons out on loan at Derby County and West Bromwich Albion respectively.

While there is presumably still ample time for the 22-year-old to prove himself worthy of a permanent role in Rodgers's squad, given he only penned a new contract in May, the signing of Gomez would appear to present another significant hurdle in his attempts to nail down that right-back slot.

Defender turned pundit Carragher speculated on Wisdom's inevitable desire for regular football in a post on his KICCA account and pointed to the pedigree of Liverpool's latest signing as a potential indicator that he could be set to succeed on Merseyside.

"Starting with Gomez's arrival, especially with him being able to play RB & CB means there will be question marks now over Andre Wisdom's future & having been on loan for the last couple of years I'm sure he will want regular football," he wrote on the sports network after the deal was confirmed.

"There has been plenty of young defenders signed over the last decade or so for Lfc who've never quite made the grade Palletta, Coates, Wilson, Ayala, San Jose, & Ilori who still has time to change that.

"It basically comes from a lack of game time but crucially not taking their chance on the rare occasions they were chosen. Some have gone on to have good careers but Lfc sign players to play for us not to develop them for others.

"Hopefully Joe Gomez will change that. He's an England U19 international & has performed well for Charlton Athletic so comes with a good pedigree."

Of the defenders specifically referenced by Carragher, only Sebastian Coates and Tiago Ilori remain at the club.

While the Sunderland Echo believes the former is edging ever closer to a potential £4m switch to the Stadium of Light, it seems Portuguese youth international Ilori will be given a chance to impress during pre-season.

"We talked last week about the future of Tiago," the player's father, Kola Ilori, told radio station Antena 1, as reported by Portuguese publication Maisfutebol earlier in June. "They say he will have a chance and will go on the pre-season tour of Thailand."

The former Sporting Lisbon centre-back has yet to feature for his parent club and was previously dispatched for temporary stints in La Liga with Granada and with French side Bordeaux.