German goalkeeper Loris Karius, brought over to Liverpool from Mainz in 2016 broke his hand in Wednesday night’s 1-0 friendly loss to Chelsea. In other words, the Reds lost more than a meaningless preseason exhibition to the Blues late night at the Rose Bowl. They also lost a man who could possibly be the starting #1 this season.
Karius will fly home Friday, per the Liverpool Echo. He is expected to undergo surgery on his right hand and miss 8 to 10 weeks.
He was acquired to push Simon Mignolet for the starting keeper position. Because after all, Mignolet’s form has often been…well, just ask any Liverpool supporter that you know how Mignolet’s form has been lately.
Jurgen Klopp however, insists that the team will be fine.
“It’s not too cool, of course,” Klopp said. “You never want to have an injured player and the problem with injuries is that they’re always at the wrong time — there is never good timing with injuries. It’s not cool for the boy, it’s not cool for us, but it can’t be changed so we have to take it.
“We have another three goalkeepers and everybody knows about the quality of Simon Mignolet, so all good and he’s made a really good impression in the first few days since he’s been back in training.
“We have the very experienced Alex Manninger and the very young Shamal George. That’s now the situation. It could have been worse — everybody knows a broken bone in the hand for a goalkeeper is not the best thing to have.
“It could have been worse, but six, eight, 10 weeks — whatever it takes in the end — it’s not the longest period, but it’s not too good of course.”
So there you go, Klopp is doing his best to keep the club in high spirits despite the loss of Loris Karius.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
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