Loris Karius has revealed that he is ahead in his rehabilitation schedule, but won’t be taking any risks ahead of his first start in the 2016/17 Premier League season.
During a pre-season game against Chelsea in July, Karius fractured a bone in his hand. He has since had surgery to put wire support in his wrist and then to remove it.
He returned to training last week as he stepped up his rehabilitation. The German is sure to challenge Simon Mignolet for the number 1 spot, and fans cannot wait to see their new signing in competitive action.
He told Liverpoolfc.com, “I had surgery on Wednesday, so now the wires have been removed that they put in four weeks ago. Now the fracture has healed, hopefully, I can start training now and build it up.
“I don’t know if it is going to be a week or however long [before I am back in full training], I just need to see how it feels. But I can now start using my hands and catch balls. It’s up to me now, basically.
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“We’re ahead of schedule because in total it’s been about five weeks [since the injury] I think, but I don’t want to rush it too much. Now I am in the last stages, I just want to feel good and confident about it, that it’s all done.
“I am not going to rush it because of two or three days, but if I feel good then maybe I will be back way sooner than expected.”
Despite being unable to use his right hand, Karius maintained his fitness levels in the gym and under a strict conditioning regimen monitored by goalkeeping coach John Achterberg.
“I’ve been working a lot in the gym on my legs,” he continued. “I obviously couldn’t do much upper-body stuff because of my hand, so I’ve done a lot of lower strength.
“I’ve been outside every day with the team and have done a lot of fitness work, foot work and making some saves with my left hand. My fitness level is where it should be, I don’t think I am going to need any time to improve on that, so that will help me to be fit by the time I feel confident with my hand.
“We haven’t wasted any time there, in fact, we’ve probably even improved me on some stuff. We did a lot of kicking with John Achterberg – after every training session we did work to improve on kicking, so I feel really good.
“I don’t really think I am going to need a long time to be back on my best level. My body is there, it’s ready, it’s just the one hand I need to be sure of now and that it’s not giving me any problems.
“I am pretty sure next week I will feel fine. Obviously, I can’t say 100 per cent because I’ll need to see how it is when I am in full training next week, so we’ll see but I don’t think it is going to be long now.”
Karius, despite only joining Twitter a few months ago, has been backing his teammates through the social media platform as he cut a frustrated figure from the sidelines.
“It was frustrating in the beginning [to get the injury], but there is nothing you can change about it – life goes on,” Karius explained. “It could have been way worse. Injuries are always bad, but the amount of time it took me to get to this stage is OK.
“I’ve missed three games so far and it’s almost more intense to watch them on TV than when you’re on the field! But I hope I can feature soon.
“I’m not jumping around when I’m watching, but it’s not so easy to watch when you want to help. You can’t help it and from outside you feel a bit more nervous, I guess, because obviously you want the lads to win.
“I haven’t experienced not being in the game for a long time, so it’s a new, new experience again for me.
“We’ve done alright so far and we were unlucky in the last game, I think we deserved a win there. Now there are more big games coming up and it’s going to be exciting.”