Loris Karius believes he “would have been in the Liverpool goal” during Alisson‘s injury spell last season, ruing a loan move to Union Berlin that was “not exactly fair.”
Alisson missed a run of three games in October and another three in December due to shoulder and hip injuries, which gave Caoimhin Kelleher a chance to make his breakthrough.
The Irishman established himself ahead of Adrian – who started during Alisson‘s first spell out – as Jurgen Klopp‘s second choice and kept clean sheets against both Ajax and Wolves.
Now, Kelleher has signed a new five-year contract with the club and, despite Adrian also renewing his deal, is set to compete with Alisson as No. 2 in 2021/22.
Klopp’s pecking order is set, then, with Kelleher and Adrian behind the Brazilian, but in an interview with Bild, Karius has suggested it could have been different had he stayed at Liverpool last season.
“Last year I was gone, and I would have been in the Liverpool goal two weeks later due to injuries in the goalkeeping position,” he said.
Despite there being no place for him back at Anfield, Karius has not yet ruled out remaining with the Reds for the final year of his contract, saying “you should never exclude anything.”
He added: “I don’t always want to be dependent on [injury to the first choice], you don’t want your colleagues to do that either.
“I keep all options open and will make the right decision for myself.”
As it stands, Karius will be part of the Liverpool squad in pre-season training on July 12, and he could be involved in first-team sessions due to Alisson being at Copa America.
But after a season on loan at Union Berlin which he feels was “not exactly fair,” having been “told that I would play” only to make just five appearances for the German side, his next club “has to be up for it.”
“Last year taught me again that you have to exchange ideas intensively with those responsible and that you really have to pay attention to your intuition,” he said.
“I don’t know if it has to be something completely exotic. But Spain, Italy – I can already imagine something like that, if it fits.”
There are no reports of interest in Karius at this point, but the 28-year-old is at the point in his career in which he needs to settle elsewhere, and it seems he would be open to moving to LaLiga or Serie A.
Whether he would have jumped ahead of Adrian in the running last season instead of Kelleher, however, is questionable to say the least.
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