Liverpool defender Joel Matip is expected to remain at Anfield beyond the end of this season, according to Ian Doyle of the Liverpool Echo.
During an online Q&A with Reds supporters, the journalist said he expects Matip to stay on with his contract running until 2024, with the club in ‘no rush’ to part company with the 29-year-old.
Doyle stated: “He’s injured his ankle ligaments and won’t be playing again this season. With his contract running until 2024, there’s no rush to move Matip on. It may well be that next term Liverpool have a surfeit of centre-backs – just in case.”
Despite Matip’s obvious abilities and worth to Klopp’s side when fit and available, his lamentable injury record makes the defender a very difficult man on whom to rely in the long run.
At half-time on his 10th Premier League appearance of the season against Tottenham a fortnight ago, the centre-back was replaced with an ankle ligament injury which has ultimately ended his season. Jurgen Klopp was forced to sign two centre-backs on deadline day and some may have questioned the Cameroonian’s long-term future at the club.
Doyle doesn’t expect the Reds to cast the former Schalke 04 man aside just yet, though, and he could provide one of numerous central defensive options next season when Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk return.
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Prior to his season-ending blow, Matip had already missed regular action and there would rightly have been scope for allowing the retired Cameroon international to move on given his regular injury woes. With layoffs all too often getting the better of his season, many Kopites may have been torn over his future on Merseyside.
However, perhaps once bitten twice shy from events in recent months, having allowed Dejan Lovren to leave last summer before being left bereft of options, Klopp may look to double down on his defensive department for next season, as Doyle has suggested.
