Liverpool FC transfer news: Matip to be handed new deal by Reds

The Liverpool Echo reports that Joel Matip is to be handed a new deal by the Reds after his excellent performances in the second half of the last campaign.

The 27-year-old defender didn’t start the last season as the first-choice alongside Virgil van Dijk. However, injuries to Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovren opened the door for the Cameroon star to take over.

Matip was excellent, especially in our Champions League campaign, and had a great outing in the final too.

The former Schalke man was possibly in the best form of his Liverpool career last season, and the report adds that he is out of a contract at the end of the next campaign.

Matip shines at Liverpool

The defender was signed on a free from Schalke and had a decent first season under Jurgen Klopp.

However, his consistency wasn’t great and we only got to see the best of him last season, when he played alongside Van Dijk.

The Dutch defender has been able to extract the best out of all the players around him, and the case is not different with Matip next to him.

Matip started 17 Premier League games for us and scored one goal in the competition last season.

The pair should start the upcoming season as the first-choice, but there will be competition for places with Joe Gomez fit again.

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Lovren needs to be fit for most of the season while the Reds have also signed highly-rated defender Sepp van den Berg in the summer.