The Liverpool goalkeeper wanted to leave the club on loan this summer.
Liverpool stopper Simon Mignolet sat down for an exclusive interview with Belgian media out HLN, and delivered a brutally honest assessment of Loris Karius being allowed to leave Anfield on loan, labelling the decision to sanction his teammate’s exit as ‘strange’ and ‘bizarre’.
Jürgen Klopp brought Alisson Becker to Merseyside from Roma this summer, for a fee believed to be worth somewhere in the region of £67 million, and the Brazilian’s arrival meant that either Mignolet or Karius would leave.
Surprisingly, it was the German who Klopp decided to loan out, however.
Karius joined Besiktas on a two-year loan deal, and Mignolet told Belgian media outlet HLN how he is far from happy that his colleague was allowed to leave the club instead of himself:
“The transfer of Karius doesn’t change anything for me. I have always been clear: I want to play. I find it bizarre that Karius was loaned while I also had options to be loaned. But for some reason that was not possible. A goalkeeper who was preferred to me last year may leave on a loan basis. Strange.”
The Belgian will surely now have to stay at Liverpool this season, and fight for his place, but with someone like Alisson ahead of him in the pecking order, his chances of playing regularly are slim to none.
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