It’s widely expected that Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp are going to have a busy summer transfer window coming up. The German has had plenty of time now to assess his squad and where it needs improving and is sure to get backed financially by the club’s American owners.

Joel Matip and Marko Grujic have already been confirmed as Klopp’s first acquisitions on Merseyside, but it’s what he does on top of this in this window that could define whether he is a success at Anfield.

Many think that a new goalkeeper is high on Klopp’s list of priorities. Simon Mignolet fails to convince with his mistakes and lack of presence, and when Adam Bogdan has featured he’s fared pretty poorly, too.

Kicker are reporting that Mainz have agreed to let their man between the sticks Loris Karius join the Reds and so it looks as though Mignolet’s days are numbered. But why is Karius the right man? FootballFanCast brings you FIVE reasons he should be Liverpool’s new number one.

Shots faced this season

Karius has kept nine clean sheets for a Mainz side that no-one expected to reach the Europa League places in the Bundesliga. He’s made 86 saves and clearly this suggests at times he has had to perform well to keep those shutouts intact. Compare this with Mignolet, who although has kept 11 clean sheets, has also only saved 52 shots this season. Karius seems to be a strong shot stopper.

Aerial Presence

One of Mignolet’s biggest flaws is his lack of ability to command his area. The Belgian has been caught out far too many times by crosses and this is reflected by Liverpool’s dire record of conceding from set pieces this season. Mignolet has an average claim rate of 82% which is dwarfed by the hugely impressive 96% of Karius, clearly he’d stabilise Liverpool when crosses come in.

Saves per goal

Karius has had to face more shots at Mainz than Mignolet at Liverpool and this next stat shows how good a shot stopper the German is. Karius has made 2.1 saves per every goal he conceded this season which again beats Liverpool’s Belgian who has conceded every 1.27 saves. Mignolet is considered as a good shot stopper but it seems as though the Mainz man is a better one.

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Average Goals conceded

The two ‘keepers set to duke it out for Liverpool’s number one spot have conceded the same amount of goals per game (1.24) this season which again highlights Karius’ potential. If he can perform like that for Mainz the logical conclusion is he would do better behind Liverpool’s back four and therefore better than Mignolet has done.

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Saves per game

The young German outdoes Mignolet in this department, too. Karius has made on average 2.53 saves per game this season whereas Mignolet’s total stands at 1.53 saves per game. Throughout Karius seems to oust Mignolet in the shot stopping rankings and combined with his better aerial ability it looks as though he would be a vast improvement on the former Sunderland man for Liverpool.

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