What happened to Loris Karius at Liverpool?

In the Carabao Cup final between Manchester United and Newcastle, Loris Karius will make his first appearance in English football in almost five years.

The German looked destined for the top when, aged 23, he signed for Liverpool in the summer of 2016. It was hoped that he’d be their first-choice goalkeeper for the foreseeable future. That didn’t work out, though, and he slipped into football obscurity.

Here’s the full story of what exactly happened to him during his first spell on English shores.

Karius joined Liverpool in the summer of 2016, being signed from Bundesliga side Mainz for a fee of just under £5m after impressing in Germany.

He was brought in to be Jurgen Klopp’s first-choice goalkeeper but ended up playing second fiddle to Simon Mignolet after struggling in the first half of the 2016/17 campaign.

His manager stated that he was young and would take over from Mignolet eventually though, and stuck to his word when he brought his compatriot back into the starting XI at the start of 2018, halfway through Karius’ second season at the club.

At that point, things looked to be going according to plan for the German, with him initially seeming a safe pair of hands.

However, while he generally performed well in the Premier League, he struggled in the second leg of the Champions League final against Roma, making an error that led to one of the four goals put past him and being lucky not to give away a penalty, with a tight offside call saving his skin.

Despite that, his side made it through to the final, but his performance that night would prove to be a sign of things to come.

Liverpool lost the final 3-1 to Real Madrid, and two of the Spanish side’s goals were caused by two huge errors from the goalkeeper.

Six minutes into the second half, with the game goalless, he inadvertently threw the ball into Karim Benzema and it ended up in the back of the net, putting his team behind.

By the 83rd minute, the Premier League side was 2-1 down, and he ended all hopes of a comeback when he fumbled a 40-yard-strike from Gareth Bale that was straight at him.

Five days later, a medical examination concluded that he had been suffering from concussion after colliding with Sergio Ramos shortly before making his first error, but while Klopp said that explained the mistakes, he never played the goalkeeper again.

Karius left Liverpool before the start of the following season, joining Besiktas on a two-year loan deal and being replaced by Alisson.

He was his new side’s first-choice goalkeeper throughout his two years in Turkey and generally performed well, but didn’t sign permanently due to a dispute relating to unpaid wages.

Instead, he then went on loan to Union Berlin for the 20/21 campaign but only made five appearances during his time there, being second-choice to Andreas Luthe.

He returned to Liverpool for the following season but didn’t make a single appearance before leaving on a free transfer in the summer of 2022, joining Newcastle.

Karius has made one appearance for Newcastle since joining, playing in a friendly against Al Hilal during the winter break.

That means he hasn’t played a single minute of competitive football in just under two years.

That will change in the Carabao Cup final though, with Nick Pope being suspended and Martin Dubravka cup-tied.