Loris Karius, the former Liverpool goalkeeper, recalled in an interview with Funke Media Group the period when he was considering ending his career. Following two mistakes in the Champions League final against Real Madrid, his career did not recover through his stints at Beşiktaş, Union Berlin and Newcastle.
Karius stated that he could not just sit at home and that, with time, he managed to pull himself together. In 2024, after being without a club, he was close to deciding to end his football career. In the summer, he did not receive a single proper offer, and in October he reached a point where he had accepted that there would be no new offers.
In January, he returned to Schalke. Karius stated that he would have ended his career had Schalke not contacted him, and that the club has restored his joy since he arrived. His saves and the goals of Edin Džeko have returned Schalke to the top flight after three years.
Klaus Fischer, the club's all-time top scorer with 226 goals, stated that Schalke has not only the best goalkeeper in the second division, but in all of Germany. In the first Bundesliga match in Gelsenkirchen in 2023, Kovah proved himself again – he kept a clean sheet against Bayern in a 0-0 draw, which had not happened to the Bavarians in their last 60 matches. He stopped the attempts of Nathaniel Brown, Michael Olise and Harry Kane, and received the man of the match award with 68 percent of the vote.
Karius is the goalkeeper with the most saves (23) in the Bundesliga, followed by Moritz Nicke of Borussia Mönchengladbach with 22 saves. Finn Dahmen of Augsburg and Noah Atsbu of Eintracht Frankfurt have 21 saves each. Karp stated that he is trying to help the team week by week, and that there have been moments when his confidence was shaken, but that he is now at a very high level.
A call-up to the national team seems unlikely. At Liverpool, Karp has not played since the mistakes against Real. The club's captain, Kenan Karman, stated that he would like Jürgen to call Loris, and that Robin would want to do so heartily because he knows how much it would mean to him. Kar stated that he had not been in contact with Klopp, that he was not even thinking about it, and that the fact that people were linking him to the national team based on his performances was a compliment.
Karp stated that he is unlikely to sign many more contracts, that he feels completely comfortable at Schalke, and that he will be 34 when his contract expires. He will discuss the expectations when the time comes, and is calm about it.
