Loris Karius is struggling to adapt to the Premier League, but there is little chance of Simon Mignolet winning back his place in the Liverpool goal. The mistrust of the Belgian runs so deep at Anfield that it is almost impossible to imagine Mignolet becoming a long-term solution to Jurgen Klopp’s goalkeeping issues.
Karius, 23, is the future even if he’s finding the present uncomfortable. He was at fault for Bournemouth’s winner in Liverpool’s 4-3 defeat and has been criticised for his flailing attempt to stop Dimitri Payet’s free kick in the 2-2 draw with West Ham United at the weekend. He will be given plenty of opportunity to make amends. At Anfield, they hope that Karius will be the answer to what has become a problem position for more than three years.
The last Liverpool goalkeeper that inspired confidence was Pepe Reina. The Spaniard, 34, could easily still be between the sticks at Anfield but for a number of bad decisions in the boardroom. The first came in 2010, before the ownership of Fenway Sports Group, when the regime at the time decided to fight off interest from other clubs by awarding Reina a salary in excess of £100,000 per week, a remarkable sum for a player in his position.
This did not sit well with the American owners when they assumed control. They considered, rightly, that Reina was overpaid. So they decided to let him leave the club, earmarking Mignolet as the successor. It appeared to make sense. Reina’s standards seemed to be slipping and, the logic went, he could be replaced by a goalkeeper on a salary of £40,000 per week. The idea was to pass the savings on to other areas of the team which were deemed more important.
Good theory. In reality it did not work so well. Reina has a strong personality and was a dressing-room leader, attributes his replacement clearly lacked.
On the pitch it was worse. Almost from Mignolet’s first sessions at Melwood, then manager Brendan Rodgers and his staff expressed doubts about the goalkeeper’s abilities. Rodgers wanted someone who was comfortable with the ball at his feet, but Mignolet’s uncertainty in possession was only part of the problem. The Belgian’s best quality is his shot-stopping, but 
he can be nervous under crosses and does not communicate with his back four in the style of the best keepers. Frustration at his inability to develop reached the highest levels of the club.
Brad Jones, Mignolet’s deputy, was held in even less esteem. The Australian joined NEC in the Dutch league last year and now plays for Feyenoord. He has just been named the Eredivisie’s best goalkeeper of 2016, an achievement that was met with some surprise on Merseyside.
Karius is Klopp’s choice. Rodgers could distance himself from Mignolet’s recruitment because of the way Liverpool’s transfer policy operated at the time, but Klopp makes the final decision on who comes to the club. He will back his choice, believing his countryman can develop into one of Europe’s finest goalkeepers. This belief will put the spotlight on John Achterberg, the goalkeeping coach.
The Dutchman kept goal for Tranmere Rovers before moving into coaching. He’s been at Anfield since 2009, assuming duties with the first team two years later. Klopp has praised the 45-year-old’s work ethic, but Achterberg has been criticised by some former players, including Bruce Grobbelaar, for failing to improve the goalkeepers under his charge.
Grobbelaar is one to talk. He was thrown into the Liverpool team of the 1980s before he was ready, needing significant work on the training ground to bring him to the required standard. 
But while his criticism of Achterberg may be unfair, the fact is Liverpool’s goalkeepers have shown little sign of improvement over the past five years. Karius’s development — or lack thereof — will be the acid test of Achterberg’s abilities.
The goalkeeping position is only one part of Klopp’s overhauling process as he attempts to make Liverpool contenders for trophies again. It will take another two transfer windows to revamp the defence, which will make it hard to judge Karius’ progress. Any uncertainty in the backline will affect the goalkeeper and vice-versa. One thing is for sure: Klopp understands that no position exists in isolation.
Karius will get space to prove his worth. For the first time this decade, Liverpool have a coherent and sensible goalkeeping policy. That’s an improvement already.