Jurgen Klopp, the most daring and most likeable coach that world football has produced in the 21st century, the only one who challenged the hegemony of Bayern in Germany and City in England, announced this Friday morning that he will leave Liverpool at the end of season.
“How can I say it?” he whimpered, in the foreground of a video broadcast by Liverpool. “I’m running out of energy.”
The symptoms of exhaustion, consequences of a job that has reached levels of complexity unknown until recently, with social and political burdens that are increasingly exhausting, were the driving force of his speech. Klopp said he felt tired. There is no lack of accreditations. He directed eight seasons at Mainz, a tiny club that he transported from the Second Division to the Bundesliga in a dramatic journey; Then he pulled from his youth team to make Dortmund two-time Bundesliga champions, an exceptional milestone in a territory monopolized by Bayern; and finally turned Liverpool into the most competitive team in the Champions League along with Madrid and Bayern itself, using in the process a squad that never incorporated stars, only middle-class players. Their conquest of the Premier in 2020 closed the most famous 30-year drought in British football. Liverpool, which for decades was England’s winningest team, had not lifted the league trophy since 1990.
Liverpool published the decision on the social network X, formerly Twitter. The presenter announced that Klopp, 56, had a “message” to offer. The camera focused on the German’s weathered face, red cheekbones, trimmed beard, sitting on a stool in front of a large window overlooking the Kirkby training fields. “I have to do it,” were the first words of the greatest idol of England’s most passionate fans. “I will leave the club at the end of the season,” he continued, looking at the camera. I can understand that it is… bufff a blow for many people. I can try to explain it.”
“I love absolutely everything about this club,” he said, “I love the city, I love the fans, I love the team, I love the employees. All. But I am convinced that making this decision is what I have to do. I’m just… How can I say it? I’m running out of energy. I have no problems now, but I must announce it at some point. I’m absolutely perfect now, but I know I won’t be able to do this job again and again and again and again. After all these years, and out of respect for everyone, what I owe you is the truth.”
Liverpool employees have been warning since 2022 that Klopp’s character had changed. They noticed him taciturn. They expected the worst amid rumors of seduction from the German federation, for him to take charge of his country’s national team. Liverpool, according to club sources, never stopped supporting him. He offered him unconditional support even after some serious errors were made that were entirely his responsibility, such as the signing of Darwin Núñez in exchange for 100 million euros, a figure that revealed inflation and a glaring mismatch between football reality and the market. record in the sober Mersey institution.
“The last thing they need is an old man.”
“Other coaches would have been fired,” Klopp said during his afternoon press conference, “because of the bad streaks I had here. The club always gave me its support. With the players the situation is simple. We have a great bond and we all, as football professionals, know that no matter what your contract says, we are all here for a single year. This is how our working relationships are regulated: at the end of the season, contracts are reviewed, left as they are or interrupted depending on what you have done during the year, whether you have played well, poorly, or whether you have exceeded expectations. There’s nothing permanent about this job, so the guys haven’t asked me many questions.”
“Just because I appear here every week in public does not mean that I am the only person who works for Liverpool,” he said; “If we have done anything in these years it has been to build a great structure that is an expert in finding the perfect solution to each of Liverpool’s problems. The last thing they need is an old man walking around telling them what to do.”
Klopp took over as manager of Liverpool in the summer of 2015. Since then they have reached three Champions League finals and won one in 2019; won the Premier in 2020, the Super Cup in 2019, and the Cup and the League Cup in 2022. The feat can only be explained by the presence of City in the contrast, a club that in the last decade reinforced its squad with a budget in signings that at least doubled that of Liverpool and that also hired Pep Guardiola to coordinate its development. Klopp was the only one capable of facing him. He did it with a smile on his lips. Without ever incurring victimhood and without speculating. Neither with his tactics nor with his ideas. Klopp’s Liverpool cards were always revealed for whoever wanted to see them: attack, attack, attack.
Xabi Alonso: “I don’t have a direct answer”
Xabi Alonso is one of the candidates to replace Klopp at Liverpool. The Basque, who was a player for the English club and now leads Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga, offered a press conference this Friday, on the eve of the match against Mönchengladbach in the league this Saturday. Many of the questions were oriented in the same direction: Will he sign for Liverpool? “I was surprised by Klopp’s statement,” said Alonso, alternating between English and German; “I have great admiration for him. But now my focus is on Leverkusen. I’m happy here. I don’t think about what I’ll do in May. I’m thinking about preparing for tomorrow’s game against Mönchengladbach, and then the next one. “I’m not interested in anything else.”
The conference was declining when a journalist raised his hand: “Will he still be at Leverkusen next season?” Alonso shrugged: “That’s a direct question, and I don’t have a direct answer.”