Transfer News: Liverpool star Loris Karius set to leave as a free agent this summer
According to Caoimhe O’Neill of The Athletic (Subscription Required), Loris Karius ‘will leave’ Liverpool as a free agent this summer after getting no playing time this season.
The German goalkeeper was supposed to battle Simon Mignolet to become the Reds’ trusted number one between the sticks. And he did for a while after being signed from Jurgen Klopp’s previous club, Mainz 05, for a fee of £4.7million in the summer of 2016.
But all it took for him was one game to completely jeopardise his career at Liverpool. Those that support the Reds don’t need reminding of what the aforementioned occasion was, but let’s jog our memory anyway.
Karius started for Liverpool in the 2018 UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid after being our trusted goalie throughout the competition. But a callous pass that saw Karim Benzema put Los Blancos in front and a weak pair of hands to let in Gareth Bale’s shot that was hit straight at him saw Klopp’s men lose 3-1 on the night.
What next for Karius?
Since then, he has never made an appearance for the Reds’ senior team. He was loaned out to Besiktas and Union Berlin during that time, but those spells did not work out well for him either, and as it stands, he is set to leave the club this summer as a free agent.
The 28-year-old German apparently has a one-year extension clause in his current Liverpool deal that triggers when he makes a set number of appearances, but the Reds are unlikely to exercise it given his lack of minutes here. And there is no need to, as well.
The 2019 UEFA Champions League winners already have three senior goalkeepers within their ranks. Alisson Becker was brought in from AS Roma shortly after Karius’ nightmare performance against Madrid.
Caoimhin Kelleher, the Irish international, has also displaced Adrian San Miguel as the club’s backup goalkeeper in recent months. He even started the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea, which Liverpool won on penalties.
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The idea of triggering a clause to extend a player’s deal in hopes of securing at least some transfer fees would seem enticing to some- if it is even possible for the club to do that, to begin with. But that could certainly decrease potential suitors for the German since they would then not be able to sign him on a free.
