Klopp's days as a club manager may be over but he will manage Germany one day

27 January 2024 , 10:00

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Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool (Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Just over four years ago, Jurgen Klopp came to a dinner organised by the Football Writers Association.

Pep Guardiola was also in attendance, along with a good number of managers who were being honoured for their achievements at clubs in the north of England. But Klopp was the star of the show, wowing a hard-to-please audience with a typically amusing and insightful speech and happily giving his time to sponsors and their guests.

But sitting next to Klopp for that dinner was an eye-opener. He was scheduled to leave around nine o’clock but decided to stay a good while longer. Why? Because he was enjoying a rare time when he could have an uninterrupted beer or three. As a rule, journalists don’t ask for autographs or selfies.

Klopp explained how he did not mind obliging fans when he was out in a social environment but felt sorry for the company he was in, for his friends and family whose days or evenings were being affected by the constant attention towards himself. For such an extrovert in press conferences and in a football stadium, he was, he said, essentially quite a private man.

Klopp then told me about a recent trip back to Germany. He had gone to a school reunion and a few old school-mates had lost touch with what he was doing and had to ask. Klopp loved that, loved the relative anonymity and as much as he deeply loves Liverpool, the club and the city, he missed home.

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It was during that dinner that he said there was no way he would have the sort of longevity at Anfield that Sir Alex Ferguson had at Old Trafford, which is why the new contract he signed in 2022 came as a little bit of a surprise. While his announcement was indeed a seismic shock, there were confidantes of Klopp who believed the summer of 2024 - when his previous contract was scheduled to end - was the time he would leave Liverpool. And so it has proved.

In an interview with after Liverpool’s title win in 2020, Klopp explained how - when he became Mainz manager in February, 2001 - he had given himself a target of “25 power years” in club management. He might be just shy of that target but there is every chance his days as a club manager are done and dusted.

There will be temptation put in his way, for sure. By the big clubs in Spain and Italy and by clubs in Klopp’s homeland. But, at least privately, Klopp has always expressed an interest in the German national job, currently held by Julian Nagelsmann. He will manage Germany at some point in the future, you can be sure of that.

Klopp took over at Liverpool in 2015 (Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

But as Klopp has made clear, you can also be sure he will not manage another club in England. In terms of ‘getting’ a club and a city, no-one has done it better than Klopp in the Premier League era. And considering the financial might of Manchester City during his time here, the roll of honour is mightily impressive.

A Champions League, an FA Cup, an EFL Cup, a Club World Cup and, of course, a Premier League. When that trophy was lifted, only close friends and families of players and staff were there because of Covid restrictions. How Klopp would love to lift it again after the final Premier League of his career, which will be against Wolves on May 19.

And considering this fantastic manager writes so many of his own scripts, that is exactly what he will do. After that dinner four years ago, journalists realised why players run through brick walls for Klopp. To make sure Klopp gets the send-off he deserves, they will do just that between now and the end of the season. And that is why Klopp will go out in a blaze of glory.

Andy Dunn