Liverpool confident that Matip will sign in the summer

If tall centre backs are a big requirement for Jurgen Klopp’s January, and summer, recruitment drive then he is clearly barking up the right tree if the Reds tie up a pre-contract agreement with Schalke defender Joel Matip.

The big Cameroonian has months to run on his contract and, according to Goal.com, reports yesterday that Liverpool had made a last-gasp attempt to sign the defender in a £6 million bid, before the end of the transfer window are untrue.

However, the Reds are believed to be very confident of signing the player up to bring him in over the summer. The club were apparently keen to try and tie a deal up for a small fee in January, rather than wait until the summer. But Schalke want to hang on to their main man, whilst the player wants to honour the entirety of his contract.

Matip is a highly-thought of 24 year central defender that can also double-up as a defensive midfielder. And, as we’ve said before, that will no doubt feed into the club’s desire to have players able to cover a couple of positions.

Of course, there’s still time for any – or all – of the club’s fit centre backs to pull up with hamstring issues so, despite the reports from Goal.com, don’t rule anything out with five days remaining.