It’s been more than 24 hours since Jurgen Klopp stunned the football world by announcing he would step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the 2023/24 season.
As things begin to calm down, here are the top questions coming up through the news.
Klopp said he would leave at the end of the season due to fatigue.
“How to put it, I’m running out of energy,” he said in the transcript of his interview on Liverpool’s website. “I don’t have any disorders now, obviously, I’ve known about it for a longer time. “I’d have to announce it at some point, but I’m completely fine now.
“I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.”
He said he would be leaving a few months ago, as he began making plans for the 2024/25 season. “It means you start one season and you’re already making plans for the next one,” he said. “When we were sitting on the bench talking about potential signings, the upcoming summer camp and the option to go anywhere, the idea came to me, ‘I’m not sure if I’m going to be there at that point anymore’ and that surprised myself. “
Pronouncing the resolution now, a few months after informing the club’s hierarchy, Klopp felt it was necessary, otherwise it would have been leaked. “In the world we live in, it’s unimaginable to keep things like that a secret; maybe it’s a wonder that we can keep this [under wraps] until now,” he said.
But it gives the club time to prepare a plan for a successor. Liverpool’s hierarchy will also be looking for a new sporting director following the departure of fellow German Jorg Schmadtke at the end of the January transfer window, also announced on the same day as Klopp’s. decision.
It also allows Klopp’s staff, who will be leaving with him and who will be affected by the departure, to prepare in advance.
This is not the first time that Klopp has announced his departure for a season. He revealed that he would leave Borussia Dortmund in April 2015 for the same reasons, as the club struggled for fitness. The announcement actually led to an improvement in results, so much so that Klopp joked: “If I had known, he would have announced it at the start of the season!”
This time it is vastly different, in that his Liverpool team have turned round a disappointing 2022/23, when they finished fifth, to lead the Premier League table more than midway through the season.
They are also battling on three other fronts: they have qualified for the fourth round of the FA Cup, the final of the EFL Cup and the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League, with up to 30 matches remaining.
Klopp’s man-management skills are such that, while his players would have been stunned – a few tears were shed, he admitted – the bond he has created means they won’t be thinking about the next man in charge, rather how they can reward the man who has made them a success.
“There’s a lot at stake and possibly external concepts will come up that alter what we’re doing, but it’s all up to us,” Klopp said. “The way we’ve grown together over the past few years has certainly been exceptional.
“I need to play at the highest point and it will only bother us if we allow that to happen as a club. I hope that doesn’t happen, with the team I’m sure everything will be fine. “
With 4 trophies to aim for, there is a chance that Klopp will leave Anfield having added to his six trophies won.
Having run out of energy, Klopp has said he will take what is a well-deserved break. In his press conference for the FA Cup fourth-round tie with Norwich City on Sunday, Klopp confirmed that he would not change his mind before the end of the season, as Sir Alex Ferguson did in 2002 at Manchester United.
After a break, he may rediscover the fire, but Klopp has ruled out a return to managing a Premier League club other than Liverpool.
“‘Are you going to run for manager again?’ Now I would say no,” he said. “But obviously I don’t know how it’s going to turn out because I’ve never been in this situation.
“What I do know for sure is that I will never manage 100 per cent any other club in England other than Liverpool. That’s not possible. My love for this club, my respect for others is too great. He may just say, “I don’t think about it for a second. There’s no chance. “
A number of names have been linked by media and fans with the job.
Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, who led Bayer Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga in his first full season in charge, is the most discussed name.
Asked about it on Friday, the Spaniard said: “At the moment I’m satisfied here. I still have a lot of motivation and I’m very satisfied with the club and the team.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. I don’t really care at the moment.”
Other directors of the house have been the subject of much speculation in the media. Two of them are Roberto De Zerbi of Brighton.
Klopp praised De Zerbi’s Brighton as one of the best managers in the Premier League last season. Postecoglou, a prominent Liverpool supporter, has honed his credentials by reviving Spurs in their first crusade there.
Back in Germany, Julian Nagelsmann is another of the coaches being talked about in the British media. The 36-year-old looked like one of Europe’s most talented coaches during his spells at Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, before his star faded at Bayern Munich. Coaching Germany ahead of hosting Euro 2024.
Despite being aware of the decision since November, Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan kept his cards close to his chest at Friday’s press conference with Klopp.
“I wouldn’t want to set an expectation as it’s a process we have to go through,” he said. “We have to look through all the information and data, do the due diligence, and then we’ll make an announcement. It’ll go on in the background.
“I can’t set a date: the scenes will unfold. It’s not meant to be a distraction. . . It is the continuation of the crusade and the team that will proceed to act. When we have something to say, we will have to say it at that moment. “
Regardless of what happens between his resolution and the end of the season, the team that Klopp’s successor inherits will feel like they’re on an upward trajectory after last season’s struggles. The coach has reduced the average age of his players over the course of more than a year, from 28 years and 50 days in the 2021/22 crusade to 27 years and 22 days this season.
In so doing, he has reinvigorated a squad that appeared to be running out of steam this time last year.
“For me it’s super, super, super vital to be able to help get this team back on track,” Klopp said yesterday. “That’s all I think. “
This summer he signed Ryan Gravenberch (now 21), Alexis Mac Allister (25), Dominik Szoboszlai (23) and Wataru Endo (30) following the departures of veterans Jordan Henderson (33), Fabinho (30) and James-Milner (38).
“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.
“This team is built for the future,” Klopp said. When I said Liverpool 2. 0, I wasn’t thinking about myself forever. There will be a very sensible coach here and we will be able to play smart football.
“We have a glorious long haul ahead of us. That’s all I need. I don’t need to be a passenger disrupting the process. “