Product Metafields displaying as String instead of Objects on Collection Pages

I removed the CPL and added the suffix as you suggested:

{% for p in product.metafields.custom.linked_product_list %}
    
    P: {{ p.product.title }}
    {% assign matching_count = matching_count | plus: 1 %}
    {% capture output %}
        {{ output }}
        
          
            {% if p.product.featured_image %}
              
            {% endif %}
            
          
        

      {% endcapture %}
  {% endfor %}

  {% if matching_count > 0 %}
    

Colors:

    
      {% if matching_count > 8 %}
        
      {% endif %}

      

        {{ output }}
      

      {% if matching_count > 8 %}
        
      {% endif %}
    

  {% endif %}

But now it doesn’t show anything:

The inspect shows the outer div only: