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Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool and Joel Matip of Liverpool during the Group E - UEFA Europa League 2023/24 match between Liverpool FC and LASK at Anfield on November 30, 2023 in Liverpool, England. | Photo by Severin Aichbauer/SEPA.Media /Getty Images
The former Cameroonian international has spent eight years with Liverpool
The club has today confirmed that Joël Matip, who joined Liverpool from Schalke 04 as one of the first signings under then new manager Jürgen Klopp. Matip’s eight years at Liverpool have therefore largely mirrored the also-departing manager’s, and the center back has celebrated a number of momentous occasions in a red shirt.
Matip departs with a haul of 201 appearances, 11 goals, seven winner’s medals, and — alongside recent departure James Milner — is considered one of the great bargains of the Klopp era.
In today’s press conference ahead of his final match in charge, Jürgen Klopp shared his thoughts on Matip’s impact on his squad:
“In all the years that I have been involved in football, I am not sure I have come across too many players who are more loved than Joel Matip. I’m not even sure it would be possible to say anything bad about him.
“A wonderful professional, a wonderful footballer and a wonderful human being — we have been blessed to have him with us for as long as we have and now all we can do is wish him well as he heads off in a new direction.
“Joel’s qualities as a player are there for all to see and as a club we have benefited from them since the first moment that he joined. I don’t think he has had too many headlines over the years but he has only ever been a very famous figure within our group.
“I have said before that if there was one person who wouldn’t care if he was underrated it would be Joel, but the truth is we could not have rated him more highly. Not only has he set the standards for himself, he has set them for others and this is one of the main reasons why his time here has been so successful.”
Though Matip has many memorable moments to his name, on and off the pitch, his influence is perhaps best stated in the Champions League campaign that led to the lifting of Liverpool’s sixth European Cup.
Matip was heavily involved in the knockouts, and kept the clean sheet at home against Barcelona in the semi-finals before repeating the effort in the final and setting up Divock Origi’s effort that made took the tie out of Tottenham’s reach.
“If I had to choose one moment from his time here it would definitely be his assist for Divock Origi at the Champions League final in Madrid,” Klopp added in his remarks. “This was the touch that detonated an explosion in the LFC family. What a moment. What a player.
“We wish Joel and his family the very best for the future.”
This sentiment is certainly echoed by all Liverpool fans, who have certainly enjoyed his exploits in red.
