It was claimed on Monday that Turkish Super Lig side Besiktas were looking to terminate Loris Karius‘ two-year loan and send the goalkeeper back to Liverpool.
Karius moved to Istanbul in August, with the signing of Alisson from AS Roma ending his hopes of remaining No. 1 at Anfield after his disastrous end to last season.
The German endured a nightmare in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid, and despite a concussion leading to his errors in Kyiv, his reputation among supporters was damaged.
A switch to Turkey seemed perfect for Karius, and with Besiktas willing to broker a deal that included a future fee of £7.25 million, they clearly had faith in him.
This jarred, therefore, with reports from Fotomac claiming they were looking to “make an offer to Liverpool” to end his loan spell after just two months.
Besiktas are said to be interested in signing Divock Origi in a similar loan-to-buy deal, with Karius making way in this scenario.
This story was picked up by the likes of BBC Sport, Goal and the Mirror, with little questioning of the veracity of Fotomac’s reports.
But according to the Mail‘s Dominic King on Tuesday morning, even if Besiktas were unhappy with Karius’ form and looked to end his time in Istanbul, “it can’t happen.”
“Besiktas have signed a two-year deal and couldn’t just send him back on a whim,” King told Twitter. “[The] added fact is Besiktas are happy with his form.”
Karius has made 10 appearances for his loan club so far this season, but has kept just one clean sheet—that coming in a 2-0 win over Kayserispor in September.
He has conceded five goals in his last two outings, four of which came at home to Genk in the Europa League last week.
But Besiktas were back to winning ways on Monday night as they won 4-1 over Caykur Rizespor in the league, with Karius making two saves and completing 90.9 percent of his attempted passes.
It is increasingly clear that rumours emerging from Turkey, as were plentiful over the summer regarding the likes of Simon Mignolet, Ragnar Klavan and even Gini Wijnaldum, should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Karius, for all intents and purposes, is a Besiktas player, and though Liverpool will likely continue to monitor his progress, they will already have planned for his exit in 2020.
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