Liverpool have confirmed that both Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip will leave Anfield when their contracts expire this summer.
The Reds are braced for a major restructuring as they prepare to replace long-serving manager Jurgen Klopp with Dutchman Arne Slot, who will now have to make do without both Thiago and Matip, who are targets for Steven Gerrard’s Al Ettifaq.
“Before he even came to Liverpool I believed that if you really love football it would make a lot of sense if you watched Thiago Alcantara play,” Klopp said as he confirmed the Spaniard’s departure.
“Technically, he is so, so good. A talent who could play in any team in the world and it was a privilege to have him with us.”
Klopp added: “I know injuries have been a frustration for him and also for us but the level that he was able to play at when he was available was incredible. This is what I will remember.
“Now he will go in a new direction with his family and we can only wish them well. Wherever he plays next I would be happy to watch. An artist of the game who will only ever paint the most beautiful pictures.”
Thiago departs Liverpool having managed just 98 appearances across an injury-hit four years under Klopp.
Matip joined Liverpool on a free transfer from Schalke back in the summer of 2016 and went on to make 201 appearances for the Reds, establishing himself as one of the most reliable members of Klopp’s squad before injury brought his campaign to an abrupt end.
On Matip, Klopp said: “In all the years that I have been involved in football, I am not sure I have come across too many players who are more loved than Joel Matip. I’m not even sure it would be possible to say anything bad about him.
“A wonderful professional, a wonderful footballer and a wonderful human being – we have been blessed to have him with us for as long as we have and now all we can do is wish him well as he heads off in a new direction.
“Joel’s qualities as a player are there for all to see and as a club we have benefited from them since the first moment that he joined. I don’t think he has had too many headlines over the years but he has only ever been a very famous figure within our group.
“I have said before that if there was one person who wouldn’t care if he was underrated it would be Joel, but the truth is we could not have rated him more highly. Not only has he set the standards for himself, he has set them for others and this is one of the main reasons why his time here has been so successful.”
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