Bild reports that Schalke are planning to try and bring central defender Joel Matip back to the club, as he is still currently a free agent.
Matip is in constant contact with the club after he moved back to Gelsenkirchen in the summer following the expiry of his Liverpool contract. A move in the summer did not happen as Matip wanted to spend some time with his family.
Now, die Königsblau are hoping that Matip is interested once again in playing football so will make another move for the 33-year-old in the winter. The signing of Amin Younes in the summer showed that dropping down a level can be beneficial for one’s career.
There are two potential scenarios for Matip: one, he uses Schalke as a stepping stone to move to one last big club before retiring, as the former Cameroon international had attracted interest from Bayer Leverkusen over the summer, or he moves to Schalke and sees out the rest of his career at his boyhood club. The 33-year-old joined Schalke as a youth player in 2000 and made his debut for the club in 2009.
The former Liverpool defender is currently helping coach his son’s youth team.
GGFN | Jack Meenan