Liverpool have five reasons for contract U-turn as Jürgen Klopp star ‘wants to retire at Anfield’

In recent weeks, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has made a small adjustment to his team’s hierarchy that gives one of his players hope in the face of an uncertain future.

“We just play football and want to win the next football game ahead of us,” Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp emphasized when he talked about his center-back options before Sunday’s Premier League draw with Brighton.
“We don’t make a difference between league games and cup games and stuff.”.

“I didn’t choose who plays [together], so to speak. I am aware that they can all play together.
It concerns how the boys have a small history of getting hurt when they play too much.

“In the past, we attempted to share the extremely intense and high part for as long as it was feasible.
Two center halves play every game, but perhaps it won’t be possible after the international break.
That is also feasible.

It makes sense why Klopp feels compelled to take extra precautions to safeguard his options. Joël Matip and Joe Gomez both have concerning records, and it only took two games for Ibrahima Konaté’s injury issues to resurface. Even the previously unbreakable Virgil van Dijk experienced a rare muscular problem during the previous season.

Matip playing in the Premier League and Konaté primarily playing in the cups is one aspect of Klopp’s rotation plan that has surprised people more and more.
Klopp claims the intention is to spread the load sensibly and lower risk.

Of Liverpool’s four senior center-backs, Konaté was the only one whose caliber did not decline noticeably in 2022–2023; he was also Van Dijk’s first choice going into the season.
However, it now appears that one of Europe’s top center-halves may have to fight for his position.

Initially, it was possible to attribute the Frenchman’s absence from the starting lineup to the need to regain fitness after his brief injury layoff.
However, in the three league games since his comeback against Wolves, he has been benched.

In actuality, it appears that Klopp has slightly adjusted the starting lineup in light of Konaté’s injury and in appreciation of Matip’s strong play.

Although the Cameroonian appeared vulnerable and unprepared during the victory over Wolves, he has since put on a number of impressive performances, most notably his bravery in the face of Liverpool’s red cards against Newcastle and Spurs.
Of course, the latter resulted in a devastating own goal in stoppage time, but that was just a bad break at the end of a performance that his manager called “outstanding” for player of the match.

Matip has also contributed to the Reds’ only Premier League clean sheet of the season so far against Aston Villa, dominated Michail Antonio on a “super” afternoon against West Ham and performed admirably in his 72 minutes against Brighton on Sunday before being replaced.
Michail Antonio is one of the hardest players for center halves to handle on his day.

The defender’s contract expires at the end of the current campaign, and according to James Pearce of The Athletic, there is “no sign” that the team will offer him an extension, so it is expected that he will leave as a free agent.

Matip said last month that he would be content to retire at Liverpool and that he wanted to remain on Merseyside, where he feels comfortable.

He said to Sky Germany, “You can’t just leave here in Liverpool with these absolutely top conditions.”.
In my personal life, I also feel very at ease here.
It is preferable, in my opinion, to not switch clubs all the time.
However, that is a decision that each person must make for themselves.
Anyway, I think it’s good to be consistent.

“I would be more than satisfied if it came down to just [Schalke and Liverpool].”. But in football, you can never be certain.

Thankfully, Matip appears to be regaining the form he displayed in the 2021–2022 campaign, when he was Van Dijk’s main partner and Liverpool scored 91 points but just missed out on winning the Premier League.

Certainly the worst of Matip’s seven seasons at Anfield was the one that followed, but he wants to prove it was an anomaly.

His five strong performances thus far have given Liverpool five reasons to consider renegotiating his contract, but he still needs to keep producing and—above all—stay fit.