Loris Karius looks set to remain Liverpool's first choice goalkeeper after club manager Jurgen Klopp said his errors in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid were because he was concussed.
Karius, who was diagnosed as suffering from concussion by two American doctors days after the final as a result of an elbow from Real hardman Sergio Ramos, is likely to start in goal for the Premier League side in a pre-season friendly with Chester City on Saturday.
Klopp's comments come after earlier efforts reportedly to buy Brazilian number one Allisson from Serie A outfit AS Roma came to nothing. The Italians, irked they had sold Egyptian star Mohamed Salah to Liverpool too cheaply last year, upped the price to beyond what the English club were willing to pay.
Klopp, though, told Liverpoolfc.com nothing had changed for him with regard to his fellow German Karius's status from the moment the final whistle sounded in the final to his return to pre-season training.
Karius had been distraught at the end of the 3-1 defeat and it had been remarked the players who consoled him on the pitch were Nacho and Gareth Bale from Real as well as Liverpool icon turned pundit Jamie Carragher and not initially his own team-mates "I don't know exactly what people think or made of the situation. The only thing I can say is he had a concussion in the game." said Klopp.
"Whoever had a concussion knows there is not one way how it feels, there are different ways. He didn't feel it obviously.
"That's how concussions are. The guy who has it is the last one to be aware of it probably."
"But now I know a concussion isn't coming and going in a day. Five days after the final, Loris had 26 of 30 markers for a concussion still. That's clear."