‘Likely’ exit will see Liverpool finally address key transfer issue as £51m man linked

Liverpool are likely to allow Joel Matip to run down his current deal and leave at the end of the season - which should allow them to take a step forward in addressing their defence.

In the window, Liverpool focused on midfield recruits after allowing six central midfielders to leave during the summer.

But there were rumblings from fans that they wanted to see another defender brought in due to their lack of depth at right-back and regular injuries suffered by their quartet of senior centre-backs.

According to James Pearce at the Athletic, Matip is likely to leave at the end of his current deal, which obviously expires at the end of this season.

He’ll be allowing his deal to run down in the same way that Naby Keita, Roberto Firmino, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all did, but he will still earn plenty of game time as Liverpool are expected to go deep into the Europa League, as well as the domestic cups.

Matip played 21 times last season, only starting 12 league games in total - that was a huge drop-off from the 2021/22 season when he featured 43 times as Jurgen Klopp’s side went deep in all four competitions.

It will allow them to target a left-footed centre-back, a position which was originally listed for this summer but the priority was the midfield which is what ruled out a potential signing.

That, and the fact that their two key targets - Levi Colwill and Josko Gvardiol - signed for Chelsea and Manchester City respectively, leaving them to ponder new names.

Sporting Lisbon’s Goncalo Inacio was a name repeatably mentioned but they will have to fork out a slightly higher fee if they want their man, as he recently a new deal which elevated his release clause up to £51m from £39m.

Still, if he is to be the right option, then Liverpool will surely get the deal done in a swift manner, unless any other of Europe’s elite suddenly become interested and they can finally address a growing issue.