Emre Can has told the club’s official website that he knew that Klopp was going to sign Joel Matip.
Liverpool bought Joel Matip and Loris Karius from Bundesliga clubs this summer and Emre Can has described them as being “very good” signings. The pair arrived from Schalke and Mainz respectively and could definitely be described as bargains – despite Karius not having kicked a ball competitively yet.
“Matip is very good for the side. He’s very good on the ball. He was a leader at Schalke and played many years there. I think you need a player like him,” Can told Liverpoolfc.com.
“[Klopp] said to me last year that he always said when he was at Dortmund that when he was at another club he would buy Matip. He liked him a lot and that’s why he brought him here to Liverpool.”
Since arriving, Matip has made only two competitive appearances but has impressed hugely in central defence. His performance against Spurs was particularly impressive. The Cameroonian is expected to be Dejan Lovren’s centre-half partner for the season as Mamadou Sakho is out of favour and Ragnar Klavan is taking awhile to adapt to the Premier League.
Matip was unlucky not to score on his debut after a headered chance clipped the crossbar following a corner.
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Loris Karius, Liverpool’s new shot-stopper, also made his switch to Liverpool from the Bundesliga. The German is making his way back from a broken hand injury which ruled him out of the beginning of the season.
Can, who has played with Karius before, is expecting him to do well at Liverpool.
“I know Loris from the national team, but I didn’t play too often with him.
“He is a very good goalkeeper. The standard in Germany is very high and in the last two or three years he made very big steps in his career.
“He has been a little bit unlucky with the injury, of course, but he will come back and do very well.”