Jurgen Klopp believes Joel Matip is one of Liverpool’s best recent signings.
Matip moved to Anfield in 2016 on a free transfer from Schalke and has since become a regular fixture in a defence headed up by Virgil van Dijk and Alisson.
In his central pairing with van Dijk, the Cameroon international contributed to the Reds’ flawless start to the new Premier League season of six straight wins.
But while the Dutchman and Alisson are often hailed for their influences, Klopp sees Matip as
He said: “The challenges you have, in an ideal world you grow with it.
“But Joel was always an incredible talent, he played as an 18-year-old boy already for Schalke in the Bundesliga, so that’s not that easy.
“Maybe the respect in England for the Bundesliga is not too big but it’s a strong league and [when] he played there, he was always a standout player for them, a really fixed point in their defence very early in his life.
“Then yes, you lack a little bit of consistency – that can happen, especially with his physical [stature].
“On one side it’s a strength, on the other side there are issues obviously. I’m tall as well and it doesn’t always look sensational when we move and that’s what you have to learn, to deal with all these things.
“But of course he grew and he developed with the team, how we all did.
“In a world of big transfer fees, signing a player like Joel Matip on a free transfer is incredible, that was maybe one of the best pieces of business we did in the last years.
“They [Matip and Van Dijk] played together but it’s not Joel, when Joe [Gomez] played or Dejan [Lovren[ played, not only with Virg but when they played, they are really, really, really good players and we have no issue with that position thank God.
“That doesn’t mean they are perfect and they will not make mistakes, they will make mistakes but not too often and in the best case we then sort it with the others so then nobody speaks about it after the game.
“But yes, Joel is in a really good moment. Long, long, long may it continue. That would be really cool.”