Liverpool centre-back Joel Matip is on a road to recovery, something that Liverpool fans have been dying to hear for ages now. He was seen running outside at the training ground during the side’s preparation for the game against Manchester United on Sunday. Fans saw this and were excited to see when the Cameroon international can return. Unfortunately, his return will not happen this season still.
As we know, Matip had an injury back in January which caused damage to his ankle ligaments. That’s a very serious injury and to see him even come back on the field in April is a sight everyone loves. He is on track to be back by next term’s pre-season friendlies, and that would be a great boost.
What is the reason for Liverpool’s bad year? How would their centre-backs change that next season?
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One of the main reasons why Liverpool have had a bad season is because of injuries to their top choice centre-backs. All of Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk (who is by far the most important player in defense) got injured one after the other, and left Jurgen Klopp with no choice but to start an academy player and a loanee at centre-back positions for the remainder of the season.
That’s when the Reds’ season started taking hits after hits and went from 1st place to 6th place. They also got knocked out of the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, and most recently, the Champions League, which made any chance of silverware absolutely impossible for them.
But, they do have their eyes set on the next season. They’re waiting for their centre-backs to heal and come back even stronger. Jurgen Klopp mentioned back in February that Matip would be working on some things as well so that those constant injury problems don’t bother him and he can make a much stronger return. Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez are making a lot of progress and are also out running on the field, so that’s definitely a sign of better days. Liverpool have also signed Konate recently, and that’ll certainly help next season.
It depends on how quickly they can start playing like their usual selves, or, at least a version of them that is as close to their best as possible. Hopefully, they make a fantastic return next season, because we all know what a joy it is to watch Liverpool on their best day. We hope to watch that again soon.