Loris Karius and Jürgen Klopp: A New Chapter for Germany's No 1
The last time Loris Karius and Jürgen Klopp truly shared a stage, it ended in tears, confusion and a concussion in Kyiv. Eight years on, the story between the two might not be finished.
Now 33 and back in the Bundesliga with Schalke, Karius is quietly – but firmly – edging his way into the conversation for Germany’s No 1 shirt under the newly appointed national coach.
“I don’t know what he is planning,” Karius told WAZ when asked about Klopp’s fresh start with Germany. “But I’m now playing in the Bundesliga with Schalke – the conditions are not bad. If I produce top performances, maybe I can become a candidate.”
He will, as he put it, “give everything for Schalke – then we’ll see what comes.”
From Anfield’s peak to rock bottom
Klopp knows exactly what Karius can do. He was the one who brought the goalkeeper to Liverpool from Mainz 05 in 2016 and, for a time, handed him the No 1 role at Anfield. It looked like a classic Klopp project: a young German keeper, bold with the ball, aggressive off his line, trusted to grow with the team.
Then came the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid. Liverpool lost 3-1. Karius, concussed during the game, made two disastrous errors. The images have never really left the public consciousness; for Karius, they never left his private one either.
“Up to that point, my career had only been going steeply upwards, then I suddenly crashed spectacularly – right to the very bottom,” he said. The aftermath dragged him into what he describes as a deep mental hole. “In that phase I felt that nobody would understand me. I no longer wanted to train, I no longer wanted to play.”
He was only 25. And he was already thinking about quitting.
Karius never played for Liverpool again. A loan to Besiktas from 2018 to 2020, another to Union Berlin in 2020/21, then the final break: no new contract from the Reds in 2022 and a permanent goodbye to Anfield.
Schalke, revival and a new target
The years that followed were bitty. Two seasons at Newcastle United, then half a year without a club. For many, that’s the point where a career just fades out of view.
Instead, at the start of 2025, Karius walked into Schalke and finally found solid ground again. In Gelsenkirchen, the former Germany youth international didn’t just play; he mattered. He played a major role in S04’s promotion back to the Bundesliga last season, anchoring a side that had been drifting and giving it a spine again.
Now he wants more. Not a move, not a shop window. A home.
“I can well imagine ending my career here. At the moment I’m not thinking about anything else,” he stressed, underlining how settled he feels in Royal Blue. For a goalkeeper who once felt alone at the bottom, that sense of belonging is not a minor detail. It’s the platform for everything else.
Including, potentially, a return to the very highest level.
Klopp throws the door wide open
If Karius needed any encouragement that the national team is not a closed shop, Klopp provided it on Friday at his first press conference as Germany coach.
“I have an incredible number of ideas. Everyone who is eligible to play for the national team should make an effort. It is a fresh start. Players will get a chance who are not even expecting it yet,” Klopp said. By his own count, he has 57 outfield players on his radar for his first squad.
The message was clear: reputations help, but they no longer guarantee anything. The reset is real.
And nowhere is the slate cleaner than in goal.
Manuel Neuer, who came back for the 2026 World Cup only to bow out with a round-of-32 exit against Paraguay, has retired again from international duty. His departure has blown the race for the No 1 jersey wide open.
Before Neuer’s brief comeback, Oliver Baumann of TSG Hoffenheim had established himself as the regular starter. Alexander Nübel, now at Besiktas, and Bayern Munich’s Jonas Urbig both believe they have a genuine shot at stepping up. The hierarchy is fluid, not fixed.
Then there is Marc-André ter Stegen. The Barcelona goalkeeper, with a loan to Ajax said to be imminent, was long tipped to succeed Neuer after Euro 2024. Injuries and misfortune derailed that plan. He will not have abandoned the ambition.
Into that crowded, unsettled field steps Karius. No promises, no guarantees. Just a simple equation: if he keeps producing consistently strong performances for Schalke in the top flight, Klopp will have to at least weigh his name alongside the others.
A first test on the horizon
The first real opportunity for Karius to turn this from story to selection comes at the end of September. Germany face the Netherlands away in the Nations League in Klopp’s debut match in charge.
By then, Schalke will have a handful of Bundesliga games behind them. Karius will either have confirmed his renaissance at the highest level or invited fresh doubts.
For a goalkeeper who once thought about walking away, the idea is striking: another chance, under the same coach, on an even bigger stage.
The fall in Kyiv defined him for years. The question now is simple: will the comeback, in Schalke blue and maybe Germany white, define what’s left of his career?
