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Cape Town - Mainz 05 sporting director Rouven Schroder has defended the sale of goalkeeper Loris Karius to Liverpool, insisting the Bundesliga outfit did everything they could to retain his services.
The highly-rated 22-year-old was unveiled by the English Premier League club on Tuesday afternoon, after a reported fee of £4.7million was agreed by the two clubs.
While they would have preferred to retain the services of the player, Schroder admits they could not deny his wish to link up with Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
"Anyone who deliver consistently good performances in the Bundesliga over a long period, to an almost complete package of being goalkeeper paired with good footballing skills brings attention from the big clubs in the Premier League," Schroder told Bild.
"We tried everything in the last few days once again in order to keep our number 1, but unfortunately we had to comply with his request."
Karius is no stranger to life in England, having spent two years at Manchester City's academy before joining Mainz 05's reserve team in 2011.
He made his first-team debut in the 2012/13 season and went to make a further 90 appearances.
