Loris Karius

Early life

Loris Karius was born in Biberach, Baden-Württemberg on 22 June 1993 to Christine and Harald Karius. Harald intended for his son to become a motocross rider, but Loris' grandfather, Karl, encouraged him to focus on football. "My father didn't watch football and it was my granddad who got me in to it," Karius stated in a 2016 interview, "He was the one who always drove me half an hour to training every day when my parents were working. He was my biggest supporter."

Karius attended Pestalozzi-Gymnasium Biberach until his move to England in 2009 where he was then privately tutored.

Early career

Karius played for local teams FV Biberach, 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.

Manchester City

Manchester City invited Karius and his family to England after watching him in Germany's under-16 game against Macedonia, and completed his signing on 1 July 2009. Stuttgart's youth coordinator, Thomas Albeck, stated: "There was an exorbitant amount of money involved. It was well out of proportion." 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.

Mainz 05

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 to a two-year deal with an option for a third year that would extend his contract to June 2015.

He made his Mainz 05 debut on 1 December 2012 in a Bundesliga match against Hannover 96 when he substituted Shawn Parker after goalkeeper Christian Wetklo had been sent off, which, aged 19 years, 5 months and 9 days old, made Karius the youngest goalkeeper ever to play in the Bundesliga. 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.

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.

Liverpool

On 24 May 2016, Karius signed with Liverpool for a fee of £4.7 million on a five-year deal. The club confirmed that he would be given the number 1 jersey.

He made his Liverpool debut in a 3–0 EFL Cup win over Derby County on 20 September 2016. He played his first Premier League match against Hull City, which ended in a 5–1 victory for the Reds, on 24 September. He kept his first Premier League clean sheet on 17 October in a 0–0 draw with rivals Manchester United. On 24 October 2016, Jürgen Klopp confirmed that Karius was Liverpool's first-choice goalkeeper, ahead of Simon Mignolet. After two sub-par performances in early December, 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."

International career

Karius represented Germany at all youth levels from under-16 onward, but his appearances were limited due to competition from Timo Horn and Marc-André ter Stegen.

Career statistics

Personal life

Karius became friends with Canadian singer Justin Bieber after meeting him while on holiday in Miami during the summer of 2015; the heavily-tattooed Karius stated that: "we were in the same hotel, [Bieber] admired my tattoos and I responded to it. He was cool. He promised to invite me to one of his concerts."