Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
That saying doesn’t really apply to Loris Karius, whose career has been steadily in decline since departing Bundesliga side Mainz for Liverpool in 2016.
From the moment he first donned the Liverpool kit – before presumably looking in a mirror, spotting a black cat in front of him and reacting to this all by breaking the mirror – the German goalkeeper has looked more like a child who has lost in mother in Primark than a top flight goalkeeper.
After numerous errors during his first season at Anfield, Karius – kept in the first team purely by the existence of Simon Mignolet – unveiled his magnum opus in last season’s Champions League final, with his two mistakes handing Real Madrid a victory by, yes you guessed it, two goals.
He was quickly shipped off to Besiktas where it was hoped he would maybe not feel so much crushing pressure, but, unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out.
In 26 games in Turkey Karius has kept just five clean sheets and on Sunday he found himself mocked by his own supporters after letting an easy shot Konyaspor’s Omer Ali Sahiner past him.
After that game, which Besiktas went on to win 3-2, his manager Senol Gunes questioned his “enthusiasm for the game”.
“He was at fault for the goals he conceded,” Gunes said. “Karius has gone a bit stagnant, something is wrong with his electricity, motivation, enthusiasm for the game.
“It has been like that since the beginning. He does not really feel a part of the team.”
While things don’t look good for Karius, Gunes did at least take part of the blame for the situation.
“It’s something we haven’t been able to work out and, of course, I am partly to blame for this.”
