Since all the papers today are reporting that Loris Karius is our #1 GK target for the summer and is available for £8M release clause, I decided to do some research. It's difficult to form a solid opinion on a goalkeeper unless you see them week in and week out, but nevertheless I tried to get some idea of his playing style from stats and highlights. First, some background. He is 22 years old, 189cm height, originally from South of Germany (I think his first name is Italian, in Germany they would typically use Lars or Lorenz), but spent 2 years in England playing for Manchester City reserves. So far he has only 1 cap for Germany U21 national team, as he was behind in the pecking order to some of his slightly older colleagues: Ter Stegen, Leno and Timo Horn.
3 things are clear from the highlights. First, he has a solid command of the penalty area. I think one of Mignolet's biggest problems is the lack of explosive pace (which you don't normally think is such a big deal for a goalkeeper, but of course it is!), which is why he can't come out and claim the ball with the confidence and sharpness of someone like Neuer or Reina (fans tend to blame it on psychological traits like indecisiveness, whereas it's mostly just a question of physique). Well, in contrast Karius is noticeably quick off his line and seems to have a solid understanding of when to come out and how to position his body to maximize his chances of making a save. Stats bear this out – this season Mignolet has 74 successful claims to 9 unsuccessful (most in the EPL), whereas Karius has 81 successful claims to 1 failed one.
Second, handling is currently his biggest weakness. Even in the save compilations you can see he doesn't always claim the ball cleanly, a couple of times he even let it run through his legs only to catch it near the goal line and when the shot is directed towards his body he sometimes parries the ball right in front of him – whereas when stretching or jumping, the technique is perfect. I think this weakness is not a deal-breaker – handling is something that can generally be improved in time with coaching. And comparing his highlights from this season to the last, I think it has considerably improved already.
Third, Karius seems to be quite good at saving penalties. This season he is the only goalkeeper in the Bundesliga who has saved more than 1 penalty, and last year he was a joint leader in this category as well. His reflexes and technique for saving at point-blank range generally seem excellent.
Overall I would say he looks like a very talented and confident young goalkeeper who despite his young age already has over 90 starts in the first Bundesliga. Two formative years spent in England are probably a bonus, whereas his lack of Euro cup and national team experience is a temporary drawback. The German school of goalkeeping is rightly considered one of the best, if not the best, in Europe and simply because he's been educated in that way he is likely to perform better than a player of similar talent coming from someplace else. He is the youngest goalkeeper among the top 10 Bundesliga goalkeepers by stats (the only other one near his age is Timo Horn, with whom we've been linked as well), which means that if everything goes well, he will be near the top when he's in his prime. Buying a young and highly-rated player like Karius to compete with Mignolet (rather than an older player to replace him outright) would be consistent with Klopp's strategy of gradually increasing the quality and competition in the squad in all positions. I think this would be a good move, especially in the long run.
Interview with Karius in English:
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/headlines/loris-karius-i-want-to-play-for-germany-kick-off/vi-BBs9hX2
Highlights from previous season (lots of dropped balls here):
This season (less dropped balls):
3 things are clear from the highlights. First, he has a solid command of the penalty area. I think one of Mignolet's biggest problems is the lack of explosive pace (which you don't normally think is such a big deal for a goalkeeper, but of course it is!), which is why he can't come out and claim the ball with the confidence and sharpness of someone like Neuer or Reina (fans tend to blame it on psychological traits like indecisiveness, whereas it's mostly just a question of physique). Well, in contrast Karius is noticeably quick off his line and seems to have a solid understanding of when to come out and how to position his body to maximize his chances of making a save. Stats bear this out – this season Mignolet has 74 successful claims to 9 unsuccessful (most in the EPL), whereas Karius has 81 successful claims to 1 failed one.
Second, handling is currently his biggest weakness. Even in the save compilations you can see he doesn't always claim the ball cleanly, a couple of times he even let it run through his legs only to catch it near the goal line and when the shot is directed towards his body he sometimes parries the ball right in front of him – whereas when stretching or jumping, the technique is perfect. I think this weakness is not a deal-breaker – handling is something that can generally be improved in time with coaching. And comparing his highlights from this season to the last, I think it has considerably improved already.
Third, Karius seems to be quite good at saving penalties. This season he is the only goalkeeper in the Bundesliga who has saved more than 1 penalty, and last year he was a joint leader in this category as well. His reflexes and technique for saving at point-blank range generally seem excellent.
Overall I would say he looks like a very talented and confident young goalkeeper who despite his young age already has over 90 starts in the first Bundesliga. Two formative years spent in England are probably a bonus, whereas his lack of Euro cup and national team experience is a temporary drawback. The German school of goalkeeping is rightly considered one of the best, if not the best, in Europe and simply because he's been educated in that way he is likely to perform better than a player of similar talent coming from someplace else. He is the youngest goalkeeper among the top 10 Bundesliga goalkeepers by stats (the only other one near his age is Timo Horn, with whom we've been linked as well), which means that if everything goes well, he will be near the top when he's in his prime. Buying a young and highly-rated player like Karius to compete with Mignolet (rather than an older player to replace him outright) would be consistent with Klopp's strategy of gradually increasing the quality and competition in the squad in all positions. I think this would be a good move, especially in the long run.
Interview with Karius in English:
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/headlines/loris-karius-i-want-to-play-for-germany-kick-off/vi-BBs9hX2
Highlights from previous season (lots of dropped balls here):
This season (less dropped balls):
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