Liverpool ‘to open’ contract talks with duo who are set to leave Anfield for free next summer

Liverpool are planning to hold contract talks with Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara with the pair in the final year of their respective deals at Anfield.

Thiago joined the Reds for £20m in September 2020 from Bayern Munich while Matip arrived on a free transfer seven years ago. The duo are two of three players currently set to see their contracts on Merseyside expire at the end of the summer, alongside back-up goalkeeper Adrian.

However, Caught Offside reports Liverpool are to begin negotiations over new deals with Matip and Thiago as they seek to tie down two experienced members of their squad.

Thiago has yet to feature this season due to injury while Matip has made three Premier League appearances and also featured in Thursday’s 3-1 win over LASK in the Europa League. He has made 191 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 11 goals and providing six assists.

Thiago has struggled with injury during his time at Anfield but has played 97 times since his arrival three years ago, scoring three goals and providing six assists.

As things stand, the pair will walk away on free transfers next summer if new deals cannot be agreed. Liverpool released Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin, Roberto Firmino, James Milner and Naby Keita at the end of last season.

The Reds return to Premier League action on Sunday as they host West Ham at Anfield after coming down from 1-0 down to beat LASK in Austria on Thursday.

Florian Flecker hammered the hosts in front with a thumping strike from outside the area but Darwin Nunez restored parity from the penalty spot before Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah scored to seal Jurgen Klopp’s 0th European victory as Liverpool boss.

Reflecting on the game, Klopp said: “Tough start, yes. Obviously the first shot on target after a set-piece and we conceded. We had very good moments but I saw the boys didn’t feel that. It was not that we could gain confidence from our good moments – we didn’t seem to think we should do that again.

“So we suffered from the less good moments confidence-wise and frustration grew. It makes no sense. Human, but it makes no sense anyway. We showed them (at half-time) two football situations from the first half where we did pretty well. The boys clearly thought there was nothing good in the first half but that was not true.

“We told them they had to get rid of the frustration getting back into the game again, and then we would have a good chance to turn it around, and that’s what we did eventually.

“I’m really, really happy because I said before I knew it would be really difficult, and it was difficult, even if people didn’t believe me. Well-deserved win in the end and that’s it. I know that people expect us to fly through this competition. In the group stage it will not happen, in the knockout it will not happen. We have to dig in, dig into it.”