Champions League Finalist considering retirement after leaving Newcastle this summer

Newcastle United had an unconvincing summer transfer window, where the club failed to land some of their highly desired reinforcements. Be it moving away from Marc Guehi's deal just a day before deadline day or being unable to finalize Anthony Elanga's deal, the Magpies club had little to no high-profile signings. However, the club did end up parting ways with some players at the end of the transfer event.

Champions League Finalist considering retirement after leaving Newcastle this summer

One such departure was of 31-year-old veteran Loris Karius, who is popularly known for his disastrous performance in the UEFA Champions League 2017/18 final. As an attempt to relaunch his dangling career, the German keeper joined Newcastle United in September 2022. While it was clear that he was still not forgiven for his mistakes in the UCL final, Karius wouldn't be kept high in the pecking order, but that he would only feature 2 games here was much more unexpected.

Moreover, his club debut for Newcastle came on one of the biggest nights in the club's history, in the EFL Cup Final; however, losing 0-2 didn't help in Karius' case, who played only a fixture more for them. As was much clear given his extremely rare game minutes, with Nick Pope and Martin Dubravka much preferred than him in the role, he left Newcastle this summer.

Although even after leaving the Magpies club, the keeper had been close to making a career-decisive move to FC Barcelona, but being unlucky once again, he is still without a club. Being much aware of his situation now, with him having featured in only 2 games at the professional level in the last few years, Karius has now hinted at his retirement.

Speaking on facing many ups and downs in his career lately, Karius mentioned,

"“This is certainly not an easy situation at the moment. Being without a club as a player is one of the worst things, but I take it relatively calmly because I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career.""

- Loris Karius

Not to forget, even after parting ways with Newcastle, the keeper had some offers, but being not interested in any of them, he had decided to wait. As in the current scenario, the player trains daily; however, being realistic, he knows he might be close to taking retirement forever. Karius said,

"“Therefore, it is currently an option that the career does not continue. However, I keep it open, train every day, keep myself fit, and could theoretically start somewhere straight away. Everything is still possible.”"

- Loris Karius

Overall, Newcastle's former third-choice keeper, Loris Karius, although just 31 years old, has hinted at retiring from professional football. While optimistically, the keeper still has high hopes, he does realistically know that chances are few of him getting his career trajectory back on track. Newcastle fans would hope that the player does get an opportunity to prove his potential, who has been still facing his mistakes in the UCL 2017/18 final.