Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara to leave Liverpool when contracts expire at end of season

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara will leave Liverpool when their contracts expire at the end of the season.

Liverpool announced their imminent departures on Friday, two days before the team’s final Premier League game.

The 32-year-old Matip, a ball-playing center back, arrived at Anfield on a free transfer from Schalke in the offseason of 2016 as one of Klopp’s first signings.

The former Cameroon international played 201 games for Liverpool and helped the team win the Champions League and Premier League.

“I have said before that if there was one person who wouldn’t care if he was underrated it would be Joel,” Klopp said, “but the truth is we could not have rated him more highly.”

Thiago, a former Spain midfielder, has spent four years with Liverpool but injuries have limited him to 98 appearances.

“An artist of the game who will only ever paint the most beautiful pictures,” Klopp said of Thiago.

“Technically, he is so, so good. A talent who could play in any team in the world and it was a privilege to have him with us."

Other players leaving their clubs at the end of the Premier League season are Manchester United pair Raphael Varane and Anthony Martial and Chelsea defender Thiago Silva.

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