John Barnes believes Liverpool have a situation that only signing a new goalkeeper will fix if Jurgen Klopp no longer rates Loris Karius.
The former Reds player stated that if the eccentric German boss decided that Karius is good enough to carry on being the Reds goalkeeper than fans will get behind the decision.
Barnes then proceeded to reveal that he thought there will only be a situation regarding the Reds’ failure to sign a new shot-stopper if it turned out that Klopp felt Karius wasn’t good enough.
“If Jurgen Klopp feels he’s not good enough then yes we have a situation to address,” stated the former Anfield favourite in an interview with the Daily Star.
“[Simon] Mignolet’s probably going to go because he wants first-team football.
“It’s whether [Klopp] goes and he signs Oblak or Allison for £60m or whether he goes for Jack Butland and says he’ll have to fight it out for No.1 with Karius.
“The harmony at Liverpool is so good and the trust we have in Jurgen Klopp is so good but if he decides to keep Karius and play him, the fans will back him.
“He didn’t have a particularly good Champions League final and you don’t want to make mistakes in the Champions League final, but it happened.
“If Jurgen Klopp supports him, I’m sure the Liverpool fans will get behind him and support him.”
OPINION
Karius, who earns £50,000-a-week at Anfield (Source: The Sun), is not the most popular figure at the club after his Champions League final mistakes. However all will soon be forgiven if he puts in several impressive displays in his first appearances of the upcoming campaign. While fans are no doubt eager to see his replacement brought to the club, Barnes is right with his assessment of the situation. The Reds have clearly tried to find a new goalkeeper to bring to Anfield but with everyone knowing their desire to get one, they’re being priced out the market. Klopp will not want to pay a ridiculously amount to get a new shot-stopper especially if he has faith in Karius to recover from his unfortunate high-profile errors. If the German boss is confident that is merely blip then he will be aware that the club doesn’t need to rush getting a new shot-stopper through the door especially an overpriced one.
