Liverpool lined up a world-record deal for one of their heroes of recent times several years ago, but not everyone inside the club was aware of the transfer before it took place
Loris Karius and Xherdan Shaqiri ahead of a Liverpool training session back in 2018
Loris Karius and Xherdan Shaqiri ahead of a Liverpool training session back in 2018(Image: ( Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))
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Loris Karius has revealed how he only became aware Liverpool were signing Alisson Becker when he saw it in the news. The Brazilian arrived on Merseyside in the summer of 2018 from Italian club AS Roma for £65m.
Jurgen Klopp decided to renew his efforts to sign Alisson amid continued concern over the form of Karius. Just months before the Reds landed the Brazil international, Karius had endured a night to forget as he made two crucial mistakes which contributed to Real Madrid's 3-1 Champions League final victory.
The first of these saw Madrid take the lead after his catastrophic attempt at rolling the ball to a defender resulted in Karim Benzema deflecting the ball home before the goalkeeper fumbled Gareth Bale’s long-range effort into his own net to restore Real’s two-goal advantage.
Karius didn’t play again for Liverpool after the final, during which it was later revealed he was concussed, and had loan spells with Besiktas and Union Berlin before leaving Anfield at the end of his contract in the summer of 22.
And now opening up on how he discovered the Reds were signing Alisson, Karius revealed to the Independent: “It took me a bit off guard. I just read it in the news.
“No one told me before that they were making the signing or spoke with me, but I guess that’s football.
“When I asked why no one was informing me, they said they cannot let 30 players know every time we sign a player in their position.
“There’s no bad blood or anything. Alisson has done a fantastic job up to today, he’s a great goalkeeper. But if they planned on this from the beginning, maybe someone could have like put me on notice a little earlier.”
And although the goalkeeper has since managed to rebuild his career at FC Schalke 04, he admits that after being cast out into the wilderness when his Liverpool contract expired, he considered never returning to football.
Kamil Grabara, Adam Bogdan, Danny Ward, Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius during a Liverpool training session
Kamil Grabara, Adam Bogdan, Danny Ward, Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius during a Liverpool training session(Image: (Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))
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“It was not the worst six months,” he said. “I still enjoyed myself. I spent a lot of time with my family, I did a lot of travelling, a lot of things that normally you can’t do when you’re in your everyday routine.”
Karius is now vying for a Bundesliga return with Schalke. His side top of the Bundesliga 2 table, four points clear of second place SV Elversberg after 18 games.
“It would mean a lot to everyone – not just to me – at this club that is supporting every day through really bad times and through good times," the 32-year-old said when asked about securing promotion to the German top tier.
“To see all these people, the joy that they have right now watching us play is really special. I'm trying to give them as much as possible special moments in the second half of the season.
“We’ll see where it takes us, but ultimately that's a goal I have. It would be a really nice story.”