JOEL MATIP is considering a shock retirement from football aged just 33, according to reports.
The Liverpool hero, who helped the club win the Premier League and Champions League, left Anfield in the summer.
Ex-club Schalke and Hamburg had both been linked with a move for the centre-back, while Prem sides Bournemouth and Southampton also considered moves.
However, the defender has ultimately been without a club since his Liverpool contract expired.
And, after three months unemployed, he is now said to be considering a shock retirement from the beautiful game.
According to German outlet Ruhr Nachrichten, Matip has personally ruled out a return to football.
Matip also called it quits for the Cameroon national team back in 2015 at the age of just 24.
He played 258 times for Schalke and 201 times for Liverpool.
His exploits in Germany saw him land the German Cup and Super Cup.
But it was in England where Matip managed to really flesh out his trophy cabinet under Jurgen Klopp – whose own next move to Red Bull was recently revealed after he left Liverpool.
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Matip – who formed a formidable partnership with Virgil van Dijk – helped the Reds win their first-ever Premier League title in 2020, while also landing the Champions League the year before.
He also helped them to win the Uefa Super Cup, FA Cup, two League Cups and the Community Shield.
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.”
Matip was named in SunSport’s stunning free agent XI worth £78million on transfer deadline day.
