Liverpool have today confirmed that defender Joel Matip is set to miss the rest of the season through injury.
The Reds have been celebrating a long-awaited 19th league title win, but they unfortunately had some bad news today as Matip will be out for the remainder of the campaign.
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Liverpool announced this on their official site today, with the Cameroonian centre-back suffering a foot injury.
The club’s report quotes Matip as targeting a return for next season, but this is not the first time he’s had fitness issues during his Anfield career.
Despite being a top performer in Liverpool’s defence, Matip does seem a tad injury prone, as does Joe Gomez.
This means LFC surely need to strengthen at centre-back this summer if they are to avoid being overly reliant on Virgil van Dijk and unable to give him the occasional breather, while Dejan Lovren is also not a backup they want to be using too often.
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Le 10 Sport have linked Liverpool with possible defensive recruits, claiming Jurgen Klopp is looking at Marseille youngster Boubacar Kamara as a possible cheap alternative to Napoli star Kalidou Koulibaly.
The Merseyside giants would do well to bring in either of those players, with Manchester City sure to strengthen this summer, while Chelsea have also shown real intent with deals for Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner.
If Liverpool stand still, they may find retaining their title a harder task than it looks.