'Maybe': Former Liverpool player admits he might have made the wrong decision to leave Anfield in 2018

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Liverpool have been adept at moving players on at exactly the right time in recent history.

The Reds have lost some big stars over the past seven or eight years, with a number of legendary figures leaving.

Few have left Liverpool to go on to bigger and better things, as the likes of Philippe Coutinho can well atest.

Coutinho departed Anfield in January 2018, just a handful of months before the Reds played in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.

Had Liverpool still had the little magician for that fateful evening in Kyiv, things might have ended up differently. Instead, it turned out to be the defining night of poor Loris Karius‘ career.

As Liverpool prepare to face Madrid once again on Wednesday, Karius has been looking back on his time with the Reds and has admitted that he perhaps was too quick to leave following his nightmare Champions League final.

Loris Karius admits to Liverpool error

Few will need reminding of the disaster that was Karius’ performance in the 2018 final.

The German goalkeeper had been a promising – if a little erratic – goalkeeper for Liverpool up until that point, but his costly mistakes in Kyiv meant Jurgen Klopp’s faith in him was lost.

Although Klopp initially attempted to continue with his countryman during the following pre-season, his confidence was clearly shot. Liverpool brought in Alisson Becker, with Karius moving on to Besiktas for a two-year loan.

Now speaking to SportBIBLE over six years on, the 31-year-old has admitted that he might have left the Reds a little too hastily.

READ MORE: Liverpool coach has been told to convince Alisson Becker to join his former club next year

“My confidence was knocked in the days after and in pre-season, for sure,\ he says. “Everything I did was getting looked at. It was so extreme. It all got a bit too much.

“I was trying not to pay any interest but you couldn’t get away from it all. You still notice. People are telling you. I was getting confronted all the time. And that’s why I wanted a fresh start rather than staying at Liverpool, where I could have been behind Alisson, and still getting game time.

“Maybe in the end that would have been the better step but it’s difficult to say at that stage,” Karius ponders.

Loris Karius should have stayed at Liverpool

For plenty of supporters, Karius’ time at Liverpool was up following events in the final. The former Mainz ‘keeper had shown that he could not be trusted.

It probably didn’t help that Karius had felt to be a bit of an aloof character who had never really connected with the fanbase.

Nevertheless, it’s inarguable that Liverpool themselves handled his situation poorly. Suffering from such a high profile set of mistakes, the Reds should have kept him around the club to make sure he recovered mentally.

With Alisson coming in, Simon Mignolet became back-up and played only twice during the 2018/19 campaign. Karius could easily have been given those minutes in an attempt to bring his confidence back.

Instead, he was cast out to Besiktas and his career has fallen apart since.

While the decision to leave does sound like it was at least in part down to Karius himself, Liverpool could have insisted he stuck around and built him back up.