Loris Karius Arrives in Liverpool to Complete £4.7M Move

FSV Mainz’ 22-year-old goalkeeper Loris Karius has arrived in Liverpool today to complete negotiations and undergo a medical ahead of his move to Anfield, which is widely expected to be officially completed within the next two days.

Reports earlier today spread quickly from journalists with ties to Liverpool Football Club, with a flurry of early reports that Karius was on his way. In the hours since, the goalkeeper’s imminent arrival has been confirmed by sources with ties to the club, including the Liverpool Echo.

Despite some early confusion about what Karius would cost, there seems agreement now that Liverpool will pay only £4.7M for the promising young goalkeeper. There had been conflicting reports when rumours of Liverpool moving for him that it might be £6M or £8M

Regardless, it would have been something of a bargain for one of Germany’s brightest young goalkeeping prospects, and that it appears that the final fee will be less than £5M makes for something of a coup for Liverpool—not entirely unlike their capture of Emre Can for less than £10M.

Karius spent two-and-a-half seasons with Manchester City in his youth career, which means he misses the cut-off for counting as homegrown by just six months. He started 36 games for FSV Mainz last year, conceding 44 goals and recording ten clean sheets along the way.

His 2.1 saves per goal allowed puts Karius up there with England’s best last season and is a significant improvement on Simon Mignolet’s 1.27 saves per goal allowed—second-worst in the Premier League, with only Aston Villa’s Brad Guzan worse amongst starting goalkeepers.