Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
Could Jurgen Klopp’s praise of Liverpool defender Joel Matip backfire?
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has praised defender Joel Matip despite his fringe role this season, but could that end up backfiring on him.
The 27-year-old is a no-nonsense player that has been a decent performer since he moved to Anfield two years ago.
But the centre-back finds himself out of favour this campaign, as Dejan Lovren, Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez are all ahead of him in the pecking order.
The Cameroon international has made just five appearances in all competitions this season and scored against Southampton in one of the two starts.
Klopp has highlighted the quality of Matip, but could that leave him thinking am I too good to be sat in reserve all season?
“Joel Matip would play in 97 per cent of Premier League and Bundesiga clubs and he wasn’t in the squad the other night,”
Matip’s game-time is going to be thin on the ground this season unless major injuries strike and he is having to be patient at the Merseyside club.
Klopp raised a valid point that the 6ft 4in colossus could play for most teams given his quality and there would surely be a long queue of clubs interested in him if he became available.
Matip, who earns £70,000-a-week (), is now meant to be in the peak years of his career and it will be intriguing to see if he is content with a fringe role.