What Joel Matip said back in November rings brilliantly true, as CB set for new contract

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We think it’s fantastic news that Joel Matip is set to be awarded a new deal by the club.

This is a claim in Football Insider, who reckon Liverpool want to tie the Cameroonian down long-term, following his recent superb run of form.

Matip’s current deal expires in 2020, so he’d be available to leave on a free at the end of this calendar year unless we sort something out before then.

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The 27-year-old began the season as our fourth choice centre-back, with Joe Gomez flourishing alongside Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren coming off the back of a run to the World Cup Final with Croatia.

As a result, Matip barely featured over the first months of the season – and was linked with a move away as a result.

But when you re-read what he said in November when asked about a potential exit, and consider how exceptional he’s been in 2019, you realise what kind of pro we’re dealing with:

“I only concentrate now on the season on Liverpool and there’s nothing else in my mind. Everything else would only distract me,” he told the Express.

“I’ve got to wait for my opportunity, I have to work hard – this is the life of a player.

“I try to be in the best form I can be and to be ready if I had to be.”

Matip has now played more Premier League and Champions League games than Gomez and Lovren and has yet to be on the losing side domestically.

Our record with him alongside van Dijk is extraordinary, in fact, which goes to show how right the player was not to kick up a fuss and wait patiently for his opportunity.

Now, he could be a starting defender in a Premier League and Champions League win, and get a bumper new deal from Liverpool Football Club in reward.

Fair play, lad.

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