Joel Matip has been speaking about life at Anfield, and he shared some thoughts on his relationship with Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool.
What’s the story?
Well, you could tell that Matip and Van Dijk get along well straight away, as he starts laughing at the mere mention of the Dutchman’s name.
When asked what it’s like to be around the £75m man on a regular basis, Matip told Football Daily: “He’s one of the funny guys. Amazing football player like everybody knows, but even away from the pitch, he’s a great guy.
“It always makes me feel better to play alongside him, but even to sit next to him, you can always laugh and talk about things.”
Clearly, the pair have a brilliant relationship.
That comes as no surprise to us whatsoever, as it’s always been evident on the pitch.
As Transfermarkt shows, Van Dijk and Matip have played 64 games together for Liverpool, and have a fantastic record alongside each other.
With Van Dijk and the £100,000-a-week man at the back, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool pick up an average of 2.3 points per game.
Now, that is absolutely outstanding.
Is Joel Matip x Virgil van Dijk under threat at Liverpool?
In our view, we can’t see two players of Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate’s quality being happy with a bench role for much longer.
The duo would arguably start for most clubs in Europe.
In that respect, if any cracks start to appear in Van Dijk and Matip’s partnership, Klopp surely won’t hesitate to get Gomez or Konate involved.
In fact, we’ve already seen one sign that Klopp prefers Konate to Matip, depending on the opponent.
The Frenchman was chosen to start alongside Van Dijk at Old Trafford, and the move worked a treat as Liverpool won 5-0.
The combination of Matip and Van Dijk is working well for now, but they must be wary of the two phenomenal players breathing down their necks.
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