It’s a name which has been doing the rounds in relation to Liverpool almost since Jurgen Klopp took over at the club and The Daily Mirror reports that the club has agreed another transfer deal, in principle, following the captures of Marko Grujic and Steven Caulker:
Liverpool agree deal in principle to sign Schalke defender Joel Matip on summer free transfer
The 24-year-old monolith stands at 6ft 4in. He was born in Germany but, due to his blood lines, he has represented Cameroon on 27 occasions and scored 1 goal.
At club level he has been a stalwart for Schalke since he signed for the club in 2000, making his way through the youth ranks into the senior side by 2009.
Since then he has played 239 games for the club and scored a really decent 22 goals.
Matip can play equally well in the centre of defence or as an anchor man in midfield. It goes without saying that he has good physical presence and that adaptability could be key for Jurgen Klopp who has had terrible injuries to deal with since he moved to Liverpool.
The prospective signing of Matip is another potential indication that Klopp will be using his great knowledge of the German league to conduct much of his transfer business in the summer. The Bundesliga contains some the best players in the world and he will already have a good idea of who he wants to bring in.
But, of particular interest to Liverpool fans will be the likes of Marco Reus, Ilkay Gungogan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, all of whom played under Klopp a Dortmund.
Let’s see Matip in action.
