One of Liverpool’s longest-serving players could sadly be approaching the end of his time at Anfield, according to reports.
The Daily Mail claimed that ‘there is increasing noise’ that Joel Matip ‘might have played his last game for the club’, with the 32-year-old’s contract expiring in June and the defender set to miss the remainder of the season with an ACL injury.
Although ‘no final decision has been made ‘on his future, and Jurgen Klopp has spoken of trying to convince the club’s powerbrokers to offer a new deal, the Cameroonian could part ways with the Reds in the coming months, especially after the emergence of Jarell Quansah this term.
It’d be a crying shame if Matip’s Liverpool career were to end on the low of him rupturing his ACL against Fulham in early December, thus precluding him from taking any further part in Klopp’s final season at Anfield.
However, there’s rarely a place for sentiment in football, and the returning Michael Edwards may well decide that it’d make little sense to offer a new contract to a player who turns 33 in August and is in the midst of a long-term injury, along with earning £100,000 per week (Capology).
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Quansah’s emergence, along with transfer links to other centre-backs such as Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo, would suggest that the Reds’ hierarchy may already be looking towards life after the Cameroonian, who’s the squad’s second longest-serving player after Joe Gomez.
As much as some fans would dearly love to see Matip being offered even a one-year extension so that his last Liverpool game won’t be the one in which he ruptured his ACL, it’d be no surprise if he were to move on in the summer.
In that case, let’s keep hoping for a miracle which’d enable the 32-year-old to make one or two final appearances for the Reds before the season is out.