Karius out to resurrect career with Toon switch
NEWCASTLE United were already looking ahead to January and next summer after the transfer window closed last week. But when Karl Darlow sustained an ankle injury in training, the Magpies were forced to act.
Regardless of how long Darlow is out for, Newcastle felt they had to bring in cover after letting Martin Dubravka join Manchester United on loan last month.
Now, they have turned to former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, who left the Reds earlier this summer and is set to join United on a shortterm deal.
The shot-stopper should be able to hit the ground running after keeping himself in shape during the off-season. Karius has Premier League experience, speaks fluent English and is a positive, hard-working presence in the dressing room.
The Sunday Sun was told by someone who worked closely with Karius at Liverpool that he was a ‘great lad’ and the 29-year-old is considered to be someone who can push Nick Pope and Mark Gillespie.
Although Karius may not ultimately play a game for the club, it is a huge opportunity for the German, who was without a club but now, suddenly, finds himself back in the Premier League – more than four years after last top-flight appearance.
Karius has only played five competitive matches in two years and the shot-stopper could not dislodge veteran Andreas Luthe while on loan at Union Berlin last season despite having spent the two years prior as Besiktas’ number one.
But Karius continued to push and support Luthe and that team-first mindset will be invaluable with Pope.
United head coach Eddie Howe had no fears about Karius disrupting the dressing room. While on loan at Besitkas,
Karius texted Jurgen Klopp and goalkeeping coach John Achterberg and said he hoped they won the Champions League after Liverpool reached the final again, a year after that night in Kiev. The Reds beat Tottenham 2-0 in Madrid on that occasion.
Karius resents questions about what proved to be his final competitive game for Liverpool, but what could have been a night that made him an immortal ended up defining his career for all the wrong reasons after he was badly at fault for two of Real Madrid’s goals in a 3-1 defeat.
It was not the first time Karius had made a high-profile error. Steve Cook even admitted that Bournemouth identified Karius as a ‘weak link’ before he went on to spill the former Cherries captain’s shot into Nathan Ake’s path to gift Howe’s side a win in 2016.
Yet those errors can sometimes disguise just how highly rated Karius was once upon a time and Newcastle supporters witnessed that promise firsthand at Anfield in 2018.
After Karius made a stunning save to keep out Mo Diame’s goalbound effort, Klopp said: “If he’s not a good goalkeeper, I would be the biggest idiot in world football if I line him up. Maybe a few people think I am but he is an outstanding, skilled goalkeeper.”
Even before Karius’ spell at Liverpool, he became the youngest goalkeeper to ever play for Mainz in the Bundesliga.
A poll by Kicker, Germany’s leading sports magazine, saw Karius’ peers vote him as the second best keeper in his homeland’s top tier, trailing only Bayern Munich star Manuel Neuer.
Karius is still relatively young for a goalkeeper. Although head coaches do not tend to work too closely with shot-stoppers, Howe will relish the chance to get inside Karius’ head and get his career back on track.