Liverpool sign promising £4.7 million goalkeeper Loris Karius - Twitter reacts

By Jack Linley

With the domestic season in England barely over, Liverpool are one club who are looking to sort out their transfer business as early as possible, recognising the need for improvements throughout the squad should they wish to fulfil the ambitions of the fans and Jurgen Klopp himself in 2016/17. The first addition of the summer has come in the form of Loris Karius from Mainz, a promising young goalkeeper who is very much in the mould of a typical Klopp signing.

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Karius signed on the dotted line at Melwood today for a reported £4.7 million after completing a medical on Monday. At 22-years-old, there may be some understandable reservations surrounding a lack of prolonged experience at the top level, but if the last Premier League campaign has taught us anything, it is that stars can emerge from anywhere, regardless of their background.

The former Mainz shot-stopper is expected to put up a serious challenge to Simon Mignolet’s starting jersey at Anfield, with the Belgian struggling to attain regularly high standards of performance since his move from Sunderland. A commanding presence, calmness in the face of an aerial challenge, accurate distribution, and ability with the ball on the floor is what has been lacking most in Mignolet’s game, and Liverpool fans will be hoping that Karius can be the man to bring all of these traits to The Reds’ first team, notably taking on the number one shirt within the playing squad.

Standing at over 6ft 2in tall, the new Liverpool ‘keeper should be an upgrade on Simon Mignolet and at the same time, allow Danny Ward to go out on loan and gain first-team minutes. With the towering Joel Matip already having been drafted in at centre-half for Liverpool, a focus on aerial solidity is clearly high on Jurgen Klopp’s list of areas to address this summer. Of course, it remains to be seen if Karius can cope with the lime-light and live up to the expectation.

Jurgen Klopp has already expressed his delight at the acquisition of the promising youngster, who has recently been named by his peers as the second best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga, behind only Manuel Neuer.

“I am really pleased that we were able to move so quickly to get him and that Loris has shown such a desire to come to Liverpool with a lot of other clubs interested in him. 

“I know he will add to the quality we have in this position and I look forward to working with him and all our players when we return for pre-season.”

This is how Twitter reacted to the news…

The majority of Reds supporters expect Karius to be Klopp’s first choice next season…

https://twitter.com/globoygleesh/status/735154059779448832

https://twitter.com/_rebeccarose17/status/735145742646546432

The Anfield faithful were also delighted by the reported transfer fee…

https://twitter.com/KloppsKopDream/status/735161742083260416

Some quoted the stats…

https://twitter.com/BobbyFirminoo/status/735163870508163072

Some made jokes…

https://twitter.com/Billie_T/status/735144739071262720

Others were less interested in his footballing ability…

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