It has been confirmed that Jurgen Klopp will be departing Liverpool at the end of the current campaign.
Klopp stated he is “running out of energy” during his Friday press conference, which is scheduled for 3 p.m.
“I will leave the club at the end of the season,” Klopp said in an emotional video posted by Liverpool. “I understand that it’s a shock.”
Klopp acknowledged that in November of last year, he informed the club’s management of his decision to step down.
“When we sat there together talking about potential signings, the next summer camp, and can we go wherever, the thought came up, ‘I am not sure I am here then anymore’ and I was surprised myself by that. I obviously start thinking about it.”
Xabi Alonso, the former Liverpool midfielder and current Bayer Leverkusen boss, is currently the top candidate to replace Klopp.
“This news was always going to be a body blow to the club whenever it came,” responded Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher. “I just thought it would be another few years away. What a manager, what a man, let’s go out with a bang Jurgen!”
Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, has achieved great success with the team. He has won a total of six trophies, including the Premier League title in 2020 and the Champions League trophy the previous year.
Currently, Liverpool is leading the Premier League and recently made it to the Carabao Cup final. Additionally, they are still competing in the Europa League and the FA Cup. In April 2022, Klopp signed a two-year contract extension, which means he will remain with the club until 2026.
The 56-year-old was chosen as Brendan Rodgers’ successor in October 2015 after gaining recognition for his work at Borussia Dortmund.
During his time there, Dortmund achieved consecutive Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012, and he led them to the 2013 Champions League final, where they were defeated by Bayern Munich at Wembley. Klopp acknowledged that, considering Liverpool’s difficulties last season, he might not have remained in charge if he were at another club.
“Last season was kind of a super-difficult season, and there were moments when at other clubs probably the decision would have been, ‘Come on, thank you very much for everything but probably we should split here, or end it here’ That didn’t happen here, obviously,” he added.
“For me it was super, super, super-important that I can help to bring this team back on to the rails. It was all I was thinking about. When I realised pretty early that happened, it’s a really good team with massive potential and a super age group, super characters and all that, then I could start thinking about myself again and that was the outcome. It is not what I want to [do], it is just what I think is 100 per cent right.”
Klopp has also stated that he will not coach another team in England.
“If you ask me, ‘Will you ever work as a manager again?’ I would say now no,” he added. “But I don’t know obviously how that will feel because I never had the situation. What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool.”
