Loris Karius has given a lengthy interview in which he’s discussed his time at our rivals Manchester City and the manner in which Jurgen Klopp convinced him to join Liverpool this summer.
Back in August, Liverpool acquired the German stopper who was voted the second best keeper in the Bundesliga last term behind the best in the world Manuel Neuer.
He was injured at the beginning of the campaign, but upon his return, took Simon Mignolet’s place and has been the first-choice Premier League keeper for six games.
Karius has kept just one clean-sheet in that time and looked shaky early on, but a promising performance versus Watford last time out has encouraged supporters that his best is very much yet to come.
Karius actually spent two years at City as a junior, but couldn’t break through into the first-team and decided to leave for game time. Here though, he explains his original move to England and how it ended.
“At the end the choice came down to City or staying at Stuttgart, but City put so much effort in. They called me every day, they were offering me the chance to train above my age group with Joe Hart and everyone straight away,” Karius told Goal’s Melissa Reddy. I looked at it as a big test in terms of football, but also on a personal level. It was a new country, a new language, new teammates and coaching staff – it was a chance to grow as a player but also as a person with all these changed experiences.
“I believed in my process and I wasn’t afraid of the difficulties, but the club grew and grew – their focus wasn’t really on bringing through youth players anymore and there were many changes.
“It was good because I still got to train with the team everyday, but the negative was there was no way to break through, especially as a goalkeeper. So then came another big decision. I had to think about whether I wanted to take a step back to a smaller club where I could really develop by playing and being in tough match situations, or whether I wanted to stay and say ‘well, I’m already at a top club’ without having anything to do.”
After five years with Mainz Karius had well and truly proven himself and Liverpool did exceptionally to acquire such a talented keeper for under £5m.
The fact Klopp wanted him so badly as these next quotes suggest, shows how highly Liverpool’s management thinks of him, as does the fact the boss took Mignolet out of the side when the Belgian had began the season relatively well.
“When we spoke, he told me that he’s known me for a long time, that I have all the qualities needed to succeed at Liverpool, and he is very confident that I will develop even better with him,” Karius continued.
“If you read everything about who is interested in you here, there, and there, you go crazy because there is so much nonsense stories around. I thought there’s no need to waste time with this. I wanted to focus on my game and told ‘Flo’ [his agent] to handle the transfer stuff, because I trust him fully and know he’s always looking out for me.
“When I heard Klopp wanted me, I was really excited because it felt like a huge reward after everything I’d been through, and also because I know how hard the manager works for success. I was watching Liverpool already like many people in Germany, who wanted to follow what he was doing in the Premier League.
“You could already see last season the way of playing at the club changed and even though the results now and then weren’t always as good as what people wanted, you could notice what he was building and that the team was stronger. I knew that in the summer, with the time he had to create his team with transfers and pre-season, that he would really transform Liverpool. I believed in everything he told me. I had a really good talk with him, and it was not a hard decision to make.”