Loris Karius

Karius played for local team SG Mettenberg and SSV Ulm 1846 before joining VfB Stuttgart, where he rose through the youth ranks and appeared for the German under-16 national team against Macedonia in September 2008.[7]

Manchester City invited Karius and his family to England after watching him in Germany's under-16 game against Azerbaijan, and completed his signing on 1 July 2009.[8] Karius played for the under-18 and the under-21 Manchester City teams, but failed to make a senior appearance during his time in Manchester.[9][10]

Karius with Mainz 05 in 2015

Manchester City loaned Karius to Mainz 05 in August 2011, where he played for Mainz 05's reserve team, Mainz 05 II, in the Regionalliga. On 11 January 2012, the move was made permanent with Karius committing himself to a two-year deal with an option for a third year that would extend his contract to June 2015.[11]

He made his Mainz 05 debut on 1 December 2012 in a Bundesliga match against Hannover 96 when he was substituted for Shawn Parker after goalkeeper Christian Wetklo had been sent off, which, aged 19 years and 5 months, made Karius the youngest goalkeeper ever to play in the Bundesliga.[5][12] He made no further appearances in the 2012–13 season, but established himself as first-choice goalkeeper in the 2013–14 season and on 12 January 2015 signed a three-year contract extension.[13]

Karius was ever-present in the 2015–16 season, keeping nine clean sheets, saving two penalties and being voted the second-best goalkeeper in the league in a poll of 235 fellow Bundesliga players, ranking behind only Manuel Neuer.[14][15]

Karius lining up for Liverpool in 2017

On 24 May 2016, Karius signed with Liverpool for a fee of £4.75 million on a five-year deal.[16][17] He was given the number 1 jersey.[18]

He made his debut in a 3–0 EFL Cup win over Derby County on 20 September 2016.[19] He played his first Premier League match against Hull City, which ended in a 5–1 victory for the Reds, on 24 September.[20] He kept his first Premier League clean sheet on 17 October in a 0–0 draw with rivals Manchester United.[21] On 24 October 2016, Jürgen Klopp confirmed that Karius was Liverpool's first-choice goalkeeper, ahead of Simon Mignolet.[22] After two sub-par performances in early December, which included spilling Lewis Cook's tame shot into the path of Nathan Aké to tap home into an empty net to give Bournemouth a 4–3 win, Karius was dropped from the starting eleven. Regarding this decision, Klopp stated he wanted to take Karius "out the firing line," and that "Karius is a young goalkeeper. He will bounce back."[23]

In the 2018 Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg at Manchester City, with the aggregate scoreline at 3–1 to Liverpool Karius was involved in a controversial incident when he failed to clear a cross into the penalty area, punching the ball downward which ricocheted off teammate James Milner and into the path of Man City winger Leroy Sané who scored, only for the linesman to incorrectly give offside.[24] In the Champions League semi-final home leg against AS Roma, with the scoreline at 0–0, Karius let Aleksandar Kolarov's shot go through his hands with the ball then hitting the crossbar, before Liverpool went on to win 5–2.[25] In the away game in Rome, Karius was involved in controversy when he came rushing out of his goal and brought down Edin Džeko inside the penalty area, but instead of a penalty and red card the linesman gave offside in what The Telegraph called “an extremely tight call”.[26] Minutes later Karius parried a Roma shot into the path of Džeko who made the scoreline 2–1 to Roma, before the game finished 4–2 to Roma and 7–6 to Liverpool on aggregate.[26]

Karius started for Liverpool against Real Madrid in the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final which Liverpool lost 3–1.[27] He was deemed at fault for two of the goals, the first and third; the first after his throw was blocked by Karim Benzema and deflected into the net, and the second after he mishandled Gareth Bale's 40-yard strike.[28]

After the match, he wept and tearfully apologised to Liverpool fans who remained in the stands.[29] He also stated that his mistakes "lost the team the final".[30] After the match, Karius received online death threats, mainly on Twitter, which prompted Merseyside Police to launch an investigation.[31][32] Five days later, Karius underwent an examination at Massachusetts General Hospital. Medics concluded he had suffered a concussion from an elbow to his head, reportedly from Sergio Ramos just minutes before his first mistake. Doctors, however, did not pinpoint the exact moment he was concussed. According to doctor Ross Zafonte, it was possible the concussion affected his performance.[33][34] Later, on 6 July, at the start of pre season, Klopp stated that Karius was "100% influenced by his concussion", leading to his errors, with Klopp saying "We don't use it as an excuse, we use it as an explanation. For me, it's 100% the explanation [for his performance]. He was influenced by that knock – that is 100%".[35][36][37]

In July 2018, Liverpool broke the world transfer fee record for a goalkeeper when they signed Alisson for an initial fee of €62.5 million (£56m), which could rise to €72 million (£66.8 million) with performance-based bonuses, and his signing relegated Karius to a back up.[38]

On 25 August 2018, Karius joined Turkish club Beşiktaş on a two-year loan move.[39][40] Karius put in some great performances for Besiktas in his first season at the Turkish club. He earned man of the match performances and he kept many clean sheets. His man of the match performance against Alanyaspor in a league match, particularly stands out. He made several world class saves against Alanyaspor and he kept a clean sheet which prevented Besiktas from losing.[41]

In March 2019, he sought legal action against Beşiktaş for back payment of four months' wages which he alleged the club had failed to pay him.[42] On 4 May 2020, Karius terminated his contract with the Turkish outfit due to continuing issues regarding unpaid wages and after completing the majority of the two years agreed.[43][44]

On 28 September 2020, Karius was loaned to German side Union Berlin for the 2020–21 season.[45]