This summer, FSG is reportedly ready to make an important $18m transfer decision that could give Jürgen Klopp the chance to fix his Liverpool defensive problem.
This summer is already shaping up to be a transformational period for Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp’s side seems to have hit the end of its cycle, and now FSG must invest anew and rebuild from scratch in order to resurrect Liverpool back to its former self.
While most will be focused on incomings in the summer, a large part of that rebuild will also be concentrated on trimming and discarding players who are past their shelf life at Anfield. Given FSG is not the wealthiest owner and the typical model has been one of reinvesting, Liverpool will also have to rely to some extent on generating income from player sales.
Already, the wage bill is likely to be significantly reduced with the departure of Roberto Firmino, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keïta upon the expiry of their contracts. But that could just be the beginning. Liverpool may also need to discard some of its aging stars in order to make up further funds as well.
According to Football Insider, one player who the club is open to letting go is Joël Matip, who Liverpool is ready to accept a bid in the region of $12m-$18m (c. £10m-£15m/€11m-€17m). That’s not a lot of money in today’s market, but it’s still a fairly sizeable figure for Liverpool, especially considering Matip’s age and the fact that he will only have a year left on his contract by the summer.
As the common adage goes, every penny helps, and the decision to sell Matip would definitely be the right one. He is undoubtedly an excellent defender, but he isn’t getting any younger, and recently has struggled to play the high defensive line Klopp asks of his center-backs.
With age, his pace has dropped off a little bit, and that’s only going to drop off further, so the time now seems like the perfect opportunity for Liverpool to part ways with the Cameroonian international and find a successor in his place.
Considering Liverpool needs a center-back cover on the left side, where no one can really deputize effectively for Virgil van Dijk, it would make sense to get rid of a right-sided center-back in order to sign a left-sided one. Behind Matip, Liverpool also has Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konaté (as well as Nat Phillips and Sepp van Den Berg, though both could leave), who are all right-sided center-backs, giving Klopp plenty of options.
Having served Liverpool so valiantly for years, saying goodbye to Matip won’t be easy, but in football, there can be no room for sentimentality. If you get caught up in feeling like that, you get left behind. The best clubs are those that recruit ruthlessly and with no remorse.
Matip likely will be just the beginning of an exodus that has already started at Liverpool last summer when Sadio Mané left for pastures new. Now he is being followed by Roberto Firmino, and there is bound to be more on the way.
Klopp’s second era is likely to begin this summer, and it makes sense for players like Matip to move out of the way in order to help build a new future for the club. Matip, turning 32 years old before the season of next season, cannot feasibly expect to be part of the long-term at this stage, meaning he would probably be better off going somewhere where he is more appreciated to play out the last few seasons of his career.
