Goalkeeper Loris Karius appears determined to stay at his loan club in Germany rather than come back to sit on the Liverpool bench.
Karius, 27, moved to the Bundesliga squad last summer after ending a two-year loan with Turkish club Besiktas. He is under contract at Anfield until the summer of 2022 but is unlikely to play another game for the Reds.
The former German Under-21 star moved to Liverpool in May 2016. It didn’t take him too long to oust Simon Mignolet from the starting point.
He made 10 league appearances in 2016-17 and 19 the following year, with 33 in all competitions in 2017-18. And it is the last game of this campaign that changed his career forever.
The Merseysiders faced Real Madrid in the Champions League final. He was responsible for two of Los Blancos’ goals in a 3-1 loss and was visibly upset after the final whistle.
Jurgen Klopp made the decision to let him go on loan, with Alisson brought to take care of the gloves. He traveled to Turkey and made 55 league appearances in two seasons with the Black Eagles.
But problems with the payment of wages led him to leave the Vodafone park in the summer of 2020. A transfer to the Bundesliga followed, but Karius struggled to play at Stadion An der Alten Forsterei.
He has only made five top-level appearances, but four of them have come in the club’s last five games. This encouraged him and he does not appear to have any plans to return to Liverpool.
“I still have a contract with Liverpool until 2022,” he said. Sport Bild. “But of course I can imagine staying in Berlin hopefully.
“I’m not just passing through here. The mentality of the people and the team spirit make me feel good.
The reds fly away
It seems unlikely that Klopp will return to a player who seemed to be in mental pain after this final. The Brazilian international Alisson is firmly installed between the posts of the champions.
There is certainly no disagreement between the player and Klopp, who wish him good luck before going to his native country. And Karius seems happy to stay with his current club if they come to a deal during the offseason.
“I feel really good in Berlin and in Union,” he added. “Of course I want to play, but if it was different then I wouldn’t have lost anything here either.”
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