Joel Matip leaving Liverpool after final game of season

Spain international Thiago Alcantara will also leave Anfield this summer.

Fri, 17 May, 2024 - 09:12

PA Sport Staff

Joel Matip will leave Liverpool when his contract expires this summer.

The 32-year-old has spent eight years at Anfield after joining from Schalke, helping the club win the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

Matip was one of the first signings for manager Jurgen Klopp, who is also leaving Anfield this summer.

“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,” Klopp said on the club website.

A brilliant player, a big character and forever a part of our history 🫶 pic.twitter.com/7SkCRwqatY
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 17, 2024

“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.”

Spain international Thiago Alcantara, 33, will also leave Anfield this summer.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich midfielder has endured an injury-hit time at the club, making just 98 appearances in four seasons – including just one in what has proven to be his final year with Liverpool.