John Aldridge has compared our summer recruit Joel Matip to former Liverpool defensive rock Sami Hyypia.
Matip was signed on a free transfer from Schalke over during the transfer window and has taken to the Premier League like a duck to water – we already look infinitely better at the back since he started getting minutes.
Aldo says the two are similar in the way they can defend set-pieces. He even says Matip makes him feel safe again!
“Matip’s size and height means he’s winning those high balls in the box, he’s a real man mountain. He reminds me of Sami Hyypia in that respect, in how he likes to get his head on everything,” he said (Echo).
Hyypia was unheralded when he first arrived at the club in the summer of 1999. Signed for just £2.6 million from Dutch side Willem II, pundits wrote him off as an unknown. But he immediately struck up an understanding with Henchoz and by 2002 he was club captain.
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In a ten year career with the club he won two FA Cups, two League Cups, the UEFA Cup, and most impressively, the Champions League.
Let’s hope Matip can win half as much as that!