News that Loris Karius has found a new club in the Premier League with the goalkeeper agreeing a move to Newcastle United on a free transfer, as covered by Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, will undoubtedly invite raised eyebrows amongst the Liverpool fanbase.
Many will find it hard to remember the German for anything other than his game-defining collapse in the Champions League final in Kyiv back in 2018.
The former Mainz No.1 never seemed to recover his prior form for the club after such a calamitous outing in the biggest game in world football.
Official, confirmed. Newcastle have signed goalkeeper Loris Karius on a short-term contract, joins on a free transfer. ⚪️⚫️ #NUFC pic.twitter.com/s8XlMXQYBo
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 12, 2022
With his deal running until the end of January, it’s possible we may not catch sight of the 29-year-old should he not impress enough to encourage the Magpies to take advantage of his option to extend until the end of the season.
We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed, however, that Karius can recover his pre-Champions League final form and be a success in Tyneside.
Jurgen Klopp’s men won’t take part in any further Premier League activity until 1st October thanks to the latest postponement handed to them as the Premier League confirm a meeting with Chelsea will be delayed due to limited police resources in light of the Queen’s funeral taking place next week.
That being said, fans can still catch Liverpool live scores for the hosting of Ajax on Tuesday and more beyond the international break, which couldn’t come a moment too soon for a side suffering with a number of notable injuries including to the likes of Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita.
We did make a loan move of our own in Arthur Melo to help cope with an increasingly enlargening injury list in the middle of the park, though it’s yet to be seen how the German tactician figures to include him in his plans.
As a technical operator offering a similar (but by no means identical) skillset to Thiago Alcantara, the former Barcelona man could offer some much-needed cover for our injury-prone No.6 until we can add further quality in the next summer window.
At the moment, it’s a big ask of the likes of Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho to be the difference-makers – particularly when Fabinho is so horrendously out of form.
A big break, thanks to the postponement of our visit to Stamford Bridge, should hopefully provide the spark (not to mention the rest) required to once again get the best out of our midfield options after the international break.