Joel Matip To Join Liverpool At End Of Season

Schalke have announced that defender Joel Matip will join Liverpool on a free transfer at the end of the season. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was interested in signing Matip during the January transfer window but couldn’t conclude the deal but the deadline day but it later was reported that they had followed up their interest with an offer for Matip. 

Schalke general manager Horst Heldt said: “We have held intensive talks since May last year, both with Joel and his advisor. But it was soon clear there were factors in Joel's decision we ultimately could not influence”. Matip himself said this on Schalke website “I have always said that I would only leave Schalke to try something new and moving to another Bundesliga club was never an option”.

Matip has played across the back and as a holding midfielder for Schalke, and scored an equaliser on his debut against Louis van Gaal's Bayern Munich in November 2009.