“Also I want to say thank you to all my team-mates, coaching staff including all people working for the club. You welcomed me with arms wide open from day one.”
The post was accompanied by a video showing Karius’ arrival in Turkey to crowds of supporters at the airport, along with highlights of him playing for Besiktas.
Besiktas board member Erdal Torunogullari had previously confirmed Karius’ desire to leave in an Instagram post in which he described the demanded payment as “undeserved”.
The German has made 25 appearances for Besiktas this season and has been in inconsistent form, however, his representative Goll said that the Turkish club had portrayed Karius as a “bogeyman” and even tried to say the absent payments are down to football being suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 26-year-old will now return to Liverpool, for whom he has not played since the 2018 Champions League final, when he made two catastrophic errors leading to goals in their 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid.
Karius is under contract with Liverpool until 2022, but is a long way from the first-team picture.
Since moving to Besiktas on a two-year loan deal in summer 2018, Liverpool have subsequently spent £67 million ($83m) to sign Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson from Roma as their new first-choice goalkeeper, with Adrian and Caoimhin Kelleher now serving as back-ups.
Before the season was suspended, Besiktas were fifth in the Super Lig table with 44 points from 26 games, nine behind leaders Trabzonspor.