Elgar Johnson: You have Liverpool v Manchester United coming up, one of the biggest football rivalries in the world. How do you prepare for such a game, do you get nervous? How do you prepare for that sort of game?
Loris Karius: You look forward to it but obviously you focus on the game because we need to do a good job. And the fans want to support us and it’s different. After the game you can talk about it and hopefully we can get three points and all be really pleased. We just focus on the work we have to do in training before the game and make sure we are well prepared. Obviously every player is excited, that's what you play for to play these big games, so it’s something we have to look forward to.
If you weren’t a goalkeeper, where else would you want to play?
I started as a striker, for half a year and then I went into goal, so I think I would still go for the striker, that's mainly the only position I play when I am not in goal with my friends or whenever, I am always upfront.
Because you are quite a big guy, so it must be quite hard to handle as a striker. [laughs]
Obviously we have situations when maybe you are one goal down in the last minute, you always try and score as well as a goalkeeper from a set piece or something so I think striker would be a good position, yeah.
What are your dreams and ambitions for the future?
My dreams are to, first of all, stay fit. [Get] no injuries so I can play for a very long time. And then have a lot of success with Liverpool, win a title and then stay in goal for a long time and just do well and make the people really happy. I think that would be very nice for the future.
How does Jurgen Klopp's training regime differ to previous managers that you’ve worked under?
Every manager has his own idea of playing and his own idea of the training and everyone has a different personality. I've had all sorts of coaches before, Jurgen is a manager with a lot of experience that has been at the big club before and has won titles so he has his own idea.
He knows if we get it in our head and just progress then it's gonna end in us achieving good things, because he’s had loads of success with it before. So, everyone believes in it and wants to learn from him and listen to him because we know we can have a lot of success. I think you can see that in the way we play now, it has changed a lot and especially now with the whole pre-season we had you can really see his idea in our game.
On the subject of fashion, is that something you have always been interested in?
Yeah I follow it, obviously now with all the social media and everything you see a lot anyway from all the people, what they post you see a lot of different styles these days.
Do you have a favourite brand at all? A favourite clothing brand?
Well I like to mix it up, it's not just like high-end stuff, I don't really care about the brand that much as long as I like the stuff, but if I had to pick one brand, maybe I would go for Saint Laurent, I think.
Have you got a certain piece of clothing or within your wardrobe that is your favourite?
I think I would have one favourite jacket, one favourite pair of sneakers, like from every kind of thing I do have my favourite but they're often the things I wear the least because I just want to keep them nice so, I don't really tend to wear them as much.
How often do you shop?
It depends, now I haven’t really been out that much recently so I just look online and get some stuff there, but really shopping, I don’t really go that much, maybe once a month. Most of the time I just look online.
I mean it must be quite hard to go into shops now because you’re a superstar in Liverpool so I guess you probably get quite a lot of attention if you were just to pop down to the shops?
[laughs] Yeah I don’t really know where to go that much so online I know I can look everywhere and just find stuff that is maybe not so common that you cant really find if you just go in the city, that’s what I like about the internet it’s just huge, you can find everything there.
Very true. Do you have any style icons?
Of course there are some people that always dress really well but, I don't really try to copy them or anything, I just think that "oh they look good" like for example, David Beckham always looks very nice and keeps it very simple with his clothing but always looks very on point. But he also wears a lot of suits, that I don't really wear or have to wear many suits, so that’s not really my style. When he is out and about I like his style because he wears t-shirts with a lot of print on them, I prefer this direction.
How are you adjusting to life in Liverpool? How are you liking Liverpool? The city as well as the club?
Yeah it’s good. I found a place a bit outside Liverpool and it’s very nice to live here. I haven’t been in the city that much yet because we have a busy schedule, I have been around bu I am still learning new stuff about the city every week. I don’t really know my way around that well yet, but I am sure that will come in time when I have time to explore more but, right now it’s all good, very friendly people here have made me settle in very fast.
Are you starting to learn a bit of scouse?
I understand it but I don’t it speak myself yet.
You’ll get there! Apparently you have a pet dog?
Yes.
Called Hugo? Can you tell us a little bit about him? What sort of dog is he?
He’s a mix, we don’t really know what of because he is a rescue dog from Spain, so yeah we adopted him and he came here so were not really sure what kind of mix he is, so yeah that's basically his story.
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**Can we talk about your tattoos? Because you've got quite a lot! **
Yes.
What was your first tattoo?
The first was on my arm, the inside of my arm. I got this when I was 18. Then I just kept going from there, then I added another piece and then thought "maybe I should connect them together or maybe I should do the whole arm" and then that’s how it had developed.
Tell us about your Instagram, because you have a huge following. Is that something that you look after yourself, or do you have a team that work on it?
No, I try to keep it personal for the people so they know what's going on with me and I can share my stuff with them. Of course I have some people that send me pictures and say "hey, what do you think of this picture, you like it?", but it is always up to me what I want to put on there or what I want to say to the people so it's personal, it comes from me.
Do you have a favourite person that you follow?
I just really like to follow all my friends to see what they're doing, seeing as though I don't get to see them that much now because I live away. There's two or three lifestyle pages that I like, I like Hypebeast, and obviously I follow @BritishGQ.
You hair always looks really good, so how often do you get your haircut?
Before the summer I tried to let it grow out a bit longer and I just kept growing my sides and the back as well, so that took like six months but that gave me a bit of a hard time. I wasn’t really happy with it. I just didn’t think it was that good, so I decided not to grow it any longer, then cut it off a bit again and keep it short and tidy and just leave the top. I go to the barbers every two weeks. Before I went maybe once a month or once every two months because did hardly anything to it.
Do you have a specific barber as well, that you go to, or again is it something that you change every now and then?
Yeah I have one in Germany that I really like, that I always went to, but obviously now it’s a bit different to go to them every two weeks. So I found one in Liverpool that I am happy with.
What do you think about people going into hair dressers and asking for your haircut? So say they want a "Loris haircut". How do you feel about that?
Yeah, I guess that's not too bad, yeah. I think that's a good sign and then it doesn't look too bad.
I think that's a pretty cool. What aftershave do you wear? Do you have a favourite aftershave?
Yes, from Tom Ford. It’s Noir Extreme.
The Signature Collection is in its second season for LFC Retail, consisting of subtly branded quality garments and luxury leather accessories that are perfect for work, travel or everyday use. Influenced by the best in British luxury fashion - the collection contains products of the highest quality that have been manufactured by experts in their respective fields. The Merino wool knitwear and real leather accessories will be available to pre-order in selected Official Liverpool FC Club Stores and online at liverpoolfc.com/store this November.
