Liverpool: Joe Gomez set for pre-season return from cruciate ligament injury

Joe Gomez is on track to return to full fitness for Liverpool's pre-season fixtures, eight months after the defender suffered a cruciate ligament injury.

The Liverpool Echo reports that the 19-year-old has been working outdoors building up strength in his knee in a bid to be ready for Liverpool's pre-season tour to the United States.

Gomez, who joined Liverpool from Charlton Athletic last summer, made five league appearances for the Reds last season before he suffered the injury while playing for England U-21s against Kazakhstan in October.

The Echo says Liverpool will gradually integrate Gomez with the first team in July, with the Reds scheduled to play eight friendly matches before the start of the 2016/17 season.

He is on track to play in at least some of those matches and is set to be included in the squad travelling to America to take part in the International Champions Cup.

Jurgen Klopp's side are scheduled to play Chelsea and AC Milan in California before facing Barcelona at Wembley in early August.

In January, Gomez told Goal.com that he and Reds teammate Danny Ings had been helping each other through their respective recoveries, with the former Burnley striker also suffering a serious knee injury in October.

"At first, I didn't actually realise how much of a help he'd be during whole process. My injury hadn't even properly hit me yet and Ingsy's was a day later. It was gutting for us both and tough to take," the left-back said.

"We didn't have time to digest it in the beginning, but there's moments now I'll be doing a session and think to myself 'imagine if I had to do all this on my own'. It would be hard to.

"He's such an uplifting guy and that's exactly what you need around you. We bounce off each other really well and it's great that we can motivate each other during this period."