Joel Matip is reportedly considering retirement from football at the age of just 33.
The defender, who most recently played for Liverpool, became a free agent over the summer after leaving the Reds but is yet to join a new club.
Three months on from his Anfield deal expiring, reports in Germany claim Matip’s career as a footballer is all-but over.
Ex-club Schalke and Hamburger had both been linked with a move for the centre-back, but according to Ruhr Nachrichten, Matip has personally ruled out a return to football.
Matip is yet to publicly announce a decision on his future.
Matip made 258 appearances for Schalke 04, the club where graduated into the professional game.
The Cameroon star joined Liverpool on a free transfer in 2016 after leaving the German side and became a firm favourite on Merseyside.
During his time at the club, Matip made 201 appearances and was a mainstay in Jurgen Klopp‘s side.
Lining up at centre-back, he formed a formidable partnership with Virgil van Dijk which provided the foundation for so much success.
That included success in the Champions League in 2019 and winning the Premier League in 2020.
Matip also won the FA Cup, EFL Cup, Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup during his time with the Reds.
Despite being a core player under Klopp, Matip was unable to play a big role in the German’s farewell after suffering an ACL injury against Fulham on December 3 last year.
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That could turn out to be the final game of the 33-year-old’s career after failing to return to fitness.
Paying tribute to Matip after he left Liverpool, 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.”
