On Friday morning, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp announced to his players before their morning training session that following the 2023-24 season he will be retiring from his role within the club. Since his time as manager started in 2015, Klopp has coached some of the greatest Liverpool players of the recent era, including (but not limited to) Mohamed Saleh, Sadio Mane, and Virgil Van Dijk. The club has remained relatively successful under his management, seeing success in the Champions League and securing the club’s first Premier League title in the 2019-20 season, ending a 30-year drought.
Klopp informed Liverpool’s owners in November that they might want to start searching for a successor to the managerial position. He believed it would be better to ease a new manager into the club instead of just drop the team on them because it would give him a chance to exit smoothly and leave the club in a good position moving forward. Although nothing was explicitly stated in this report in November, it was clear that Klopp’s time at Anfield would be ending within the near future.
Klopp’s official Twitter statement, he said:
“I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now obviously. … I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again. After the years … we spent together and after all the things we went through together … the least I owe you is the truth — and that is the truth.” (via ESPN FC)
Throughout Klopp’s time with Liverpool, he has faced some very tough opponents. Among the greatest of these opponents is Manchester United, who have long been archrivals to the Anfield faithful. Man United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson managed the team from 1986 to 2013, and he stated that their main goal every season was to always “knock Liverpool off their (expletive) perch.” This mentality obviously carried forward to future United managers, as Klopp sported a mediocre 7-8-4 record in his 19 matches against the club.
However, even with this recent news, hope should not be lost for Liverpool. They currently sit at the top of the Premier League table with 48 points, where they hold a five-point lead over Manchester City, Arsenal, and Aston Villa. They’ll also face Chelsea at Wembley Stadium for the League Cup final, and they’re also alive in the races for the Europa League and FA Cup.
Liverpool’s owners have recently looked to Xabi Alonso, a Spaniard who formerly played midfield for Liverpool, to be Klopp’s successor. Although he is currently managing a strong Bayer Leverkusen squad in the Bundesliga, Xabi expressed interest in the position. Bringing him on would be huge for the club since it would help players like Darwin Nunez, Alexis Mac Allister, and Cody Gakpo stay with the club and avoid the whole transfer process.
Although Klopp’s news will certainly put a damper on the team, he believes he has what it takes to get his squad to a league title.
