Mini-contract with Newcastle: Karius remains in England as a substitute for the substitute keeper

The blunders in the 2018 Champions League final are Loris Karius' last major appearance in football.

Mini-contract with Newcastle: Karius remains in England as a substitute for the substitute keeper

The blunders in the 2018 Champions League final are Loris Karius' last major appearance in football. Since then, the goalkeeper has been going from loan to loan and is recently without a club. Now a controversial club in England is his new employer. His contract is short, his chances of being used are slim.

Former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius has found a club after the transfer window ended. The 29-year-old keeper has signed a contract with English Premier League club Newcastle United until January. There is an option to extend until the end of the season.

Karius was recently without a club and was therefore able to make a change outside the transfer window. In Newcastle he is initially to stand in for substitute keeper Karl Darlow, who has an ankle injury. Nick Pope is a regular keeper. Karius will probably not have much playing time.

Manager Eddie Howe said: "He's a very good goalkeeper with Premier League and European experience and he'll be helping us through an important part of the season." According to the club's announcement, Karius was also delighted: "It's a good opportunity for me and a great project that I can be involved in. It didn't take me long to make a decision."

Newcastle United are a controversial club, having been acquired by a consortium with Saudi involvement for £305million last autumn. Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, chairs the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which holds an 80 percent majority stake in Newcastle. He is heavily criticized internationally for serious human rights violations in his country.

At the beginning of August he had said on Sky about his situation as a professional without a contract: "It's a situation that I haven't had before. Being free to be able to choose the club freely. That's not all negative, it also brings nice things about it. I see it as an opportunity and a new start. This time I'm making the decision very carefully and deliberately giving myself more time to find the right club."

Karius was once considered one of the most talented goalkeepers in Europe. The former Mainz player has been under contract at Liverpool since 2016. In 2018 he reached the Champions League final with the Reds against Real Madrid (1: 3), in which he made two major mistakes to concede goals. After that he didn't get a chance under coach Jürgen Klopp. Karius was then loaned out twice more to Besiktas Istanbul and Union Berlin. In Istanbul, he had resigned because of missing salary payments. He was not happy with his loan to Berlin, Andreas Luthe mostly played.