Liverpool are the kings of England and still hold the crown as the champions of Europe. Although this doesn’t necessarily come with a wave of perks.
With these advantages come inevitable cons, which could see some of Jurgen Klopp’s most vital assets cherry-picked to some of the top sides across Europe.
One of those players is Joel Matip, who has been linked with a move to the Ligue 1 giants Paris-Saint Germain, with Kick 442 suggesting that the Cameroonian colossal has been identified as a replacement for their ageing defender Thiago Silva. Allez Les Lions revealed the day before that manager Thomas Tuchel and sporting director Leonardo are admirers of the former Schalke centre-back and are ready to pursue his signature.
Klopp previously stated about Matip that he was one of the best pieces of business that the club has made in recent years, following his free transfer from the Bundesliga in 2016, cited by the Evening Standard.
Since then, Matip has gone on to score five times and provide one assist from 111 appearances for Liverpool, illustrating that he has become a key asset for the German tactician and a player that should be retained at all costs.
With the departure of Dejan Lovren to Zenit St Petersburg last week, we imagine Klopp would be highly reluctant to let Matip leave the club having just three senior established centre-backs at Anfield.
Although there is no mention of the transfer fee that PSG are willing to offer the Merseysiders, TransferMarkt believe that Matip is worth £28.8m, which we doubt would tempt Liverpool in reconsidering their stance on the Cameroon international’s future at the club.
Despite struggling with a knee injury last season, Matip still put in eye-catching performances that left Klopp with no choice but to select him at any given opportunity. Per Whoscored, the 28-year-old managed to average 4.1 clearances, 3.1 long balls and a pass success rate of 84.7% from just 12 games in all competitions during his side’s title-winning campaign.
With this in mind, it is clear to see that Matip is still an essential and underappreciated member of the squad and possibly retaining the Premier League next season. No matter what money PSG want to throw at Liverpool and if fans want him to leave the club or not, they should remain firm and grasp on to his services.