Liverpool legend Joel Matip could retire from football altogether, having not yet found a new club since leaving Anfield in the summer. One person who might have seen this coming is Jurgen Klopp .
Matip was a stalwart of the Klopp era at Liverpool. While injuries were never too far away, he nonetheless goes down as one of the greatest free transfers of all time.
His partnership with Virgil van Dijk was one of the meanest the Premier League has ever seen, despite operating alongside bombing full-backs in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson (Mikel Arteta, take note). And Matip even provided an offensive threat of his own with his gangling forays forward, with which opponents never truly got to grips.
It looked at points this summer as though Matip was close to returning to the sport. He was even linked with Bayer Leverkusen , in what would have been a fun link-up with former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.
Later, it seemed as though West Ham might make a move for the free agent . But that did not come to fruition either.
Now, according to Ruhr Nachrichten , Matip is considering hanging up his boots. The report pours cold water on "crazy rumors" that he could return to old club Schalke.
The ins and outs of why Matip has not found a new club are not public. But his options were always likely to be limited once the injury against Fulham last December ended his season.
That left the Cameroonian heading into the summer with no football in six months, about to turn 33 and with increased question marks over his fitness. Any suitor was always going to have to be taking a gamble.
That's why Klopp (and many fans) called for Liverpool to hand Matip a new contract when he suffered the injury. If he wanted it, the club legend had certainly earned it.
"I'm pretty sure the club will show their class," Klopp said at the time, via the BBC . "He deserves all the support from us and he will get it."
Klopp did go on to say that the contract decision ultimately did not lie with him. And the following month, the German went public with his own decision to leave Liverpool, which no doubt further removed him from the equation when it came to decisions of forward planning.
No new contract was forthcoming, and Matip eventually said farewell after the last game of the season at Anfield. He could become the second player to retire after leaving on a free transfer in the summer, following Thiago's decision to call it a day amid injury woes of his own.
Liverpool.com says: As usual, you can't help but feel Klopp was right. If Matip wanted a short-term extension to help him get back to full fitness before having to look for a new club, he should have got it.
You woudn't even have bet against him returning to contribute for Liverpool at a high level. He made a habit of coming back stronger at Anfield.
However, all things come to an end, and we don't know what went on behind the scenes. It may be that Matip did not want to stay, knowing game time would be hard to come by — and his retirement now may well not be for want of options either.
Whatever the reality, we wish Matip all the very best in whatever comes next for him. He is a Liverpool legend.
Local News
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