I played for Liverpool in the Champions League final and now I'm a DJ | OneFootball

Plenty of former Liverpool players have gone on to have good careers at other clubs.

The likes of Harry Wilson and Dominic Solanke have, in recent years, gone from bit-part players at Liverpool to important Premier League starters at Fulham and Tottenham respectively.

However, one of the club’s biggest strengths is knowing the right time to let players leave. Looking at recent transfer windows, it’s hard to find any bad decisions from Liverpool when it comes to transfers out.

Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were left go just before they entered a physical decline, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho were sold for big money which allowed Liverpool to develop a whole new midfield, and even Danny Ings brought in a transfer fee above £20m when he was sold to Southampton in 2019.

Whether it be letting players leave on a free at the right time, or maximising transfer fees for young players who aren’t quite good enough for the first-team, FSG have tended to make the right decisions at the right time - something which may be changing with the futures of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold up in the air.

One player they may have waited too long to sell, however, is former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, who has spoken out about his time at Anfield and how he fills his time while struggling to find a new club.

© IMAGO - Loris Karius hands Real Madrid the lead in the Champions League final.

Karius: Staying would have been better

Karius is infamous for his role in Liverpool’s defeat to Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, where he threw the ball straight to Karim Benzema for the opening goal of a game they went on to lose 3-1.

Karius was suffering from a concussion at the time after a collision with Sergio Ramos, but was ultimately unable to recover his reputation for mistakes as his confidence took hit after hit.

The German goalkeeper left the club on loan in the summer after that mistake, as Liverpool broke the then transfer record for a goalkeeper with the signing of Alisson for £66.8 million.

In an interview with SportBible, Karius has now admitted that he regrets leaving Liverpool when he did.

"My confidence was knocked in the days after and in pre-season, for sure," says Karius. "Everything I did was getting looked at. It was so extreme. It all got a bit too much.

"I was trying not to pay any interest but you couldn't get away from it all. You still notice. People are telling you. I was getting confronted all the time. And that's why I wanted a fresh start rather than staying at Liverpool, where I could have been behind Alisson, and still getting game time.

"Maybe in the end that would have been the better step but it's difficult to say at that stage."

Where is Loris Karius now?

Having bounced around a few clubs on loan deals, Karius eventually left Liverpool on a free transfer in 2022. From there he joined Newcastle, where he made just two appearances in two years, before again finding himself without a club this summer.

He’s been unable to find a new club since then, and has spoken about how he fills his time while waiting for an offer to come in: by spending time with his wife Diletta Leotta and children, and focusing on becoming a DJ.

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"It's something I really enjoy," Karius told SportBible, having performed in Austin ahead of this year's United States Grand Prix.

"When you're training and playing every day, you can't take these hobbies to the next level because it's not possible. Will it be my next career? I don't know. I'm not going to be a DJ who performs twice a week somewhere, but I'll definitely take it a step further. I’ll bring out some music, produce and play at more events.

”A lot of people will think, 'Oh this guy is just acting like a DJ’ but I've been doing it for almost five years. Once they listen to the music, and realise that I’ve got some knowledge, I hope they will understand. So far, all the people have been positive. It's been fun to get compliments for your music, and people seeing that you're doing it quite well.

“It's very different to football but there are some similarities. When you save a shot, you bring emotions out of people. When you play a song that everyone enjoys, you bring emotions out of people."

In recent months, Karius has also walked the runway for Hugo Boss at the Milan Fashion Week, and is hoping his patience will pay off with an offer from a club in the near future.

"A goalkeeper could get injured tomorrow and I get a call-up. Maybe in a week, I'll be in goal again. You never know. If that doesn't happen, I will probably still be in Italy, spending a lot of time with my family and progressing the music."

While Karius thinks he maybe should have stayed at Liverpool back when Alisson joined, most fans will be in agreement that it was the right call for the club.