Jurgen Klopp would not confirm whether he intends to call time on his managerial career, but he did rule out the possibility of ever managing another club in the Premier League when he leaves his post at Liverpool this summer.
The German sent shockwaves through the football world on Friday morning when he made his landslide announcement that he will depart the Reds at the end of the current campaign.
Klopp joined Liverpool back in 2015, inheriting an ailing side from Brendan Rodgers, and transformed the Reds into European and domestic champions, but will vacate his chair to a new manager for the first time in almost a decade.
Liverpool are currently in the running for four different trophies, and will be desperate to give their iconic manager a trophy-laden send off when his reign at the helm comes to an end.
While speculation will naturally mount as the football world tries to guess his next move, one thing remains clear – he will not be returning to England by his own admission.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has announced he will leave the club at the end of the season
The German returned the Reds to the top of Europe earning them their sixth Champions League title
He also guided Liverpool to a first English top-flight title in three decades in 2019-20
‘If you ask me, “Will you ever work as a manager again?” I would say now no. But I don’t know obviously how that will feel because I never had the situation.
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‘What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool.’
Klopp has risen through the ranks to be considered one of the finest managers in the game after the work he has done at Liverpool.
With his side once again flying at the top of the Premier League table, his revelation on Friday perhaps comes as a surprise, with few managers able to quit while at the top.
Sir Alex Ferguson managed to win the title in his final campaign with Manchester United, and no doubt the German will be looking to emulate the achievement.
On announcing his departure, he said: ‘I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time, but obviously I can explain it – or at least try to explain it.
‘I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything. But that I still take this decision shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take.
‘It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.
The 56-year-old joined Liverpool in 2015 after leaving Dortmund and was tasked with overhauling an underachieving side
Klopp admitted that he was not sure if he would return to management after leaving Anfield
‘After the years we had together and after all the time we spent together and after all the things we went through together, the respect grew for you, the love grew for you and the least I owe you is the truth – and that is the truth.’
Although he has remained noncommittal on his future after Liverpool – hinting that he might even call it quits for good – the news of his leaving the club is sure to arouse the interests of rival teams.
Thomas Tuchel’s position at Bayern Munich in Klopp’s native Germany is beginning to come under pressure, while Xavi’s hold on the manager’s position at Barcelona appears to be far from concrete of late.
He added: ‘I told the club already in November. I have to explain a little bit that maybe the job I do people see from the outside, I’m on the touchline and in training sessions and stuff like this, but the majority of all the things happen around these kind of things. That means a season starts and you plan pretty much the next season already.
‘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.
He won the clean sweep of every trophy available during his time in English football
Liverpool’s Fenway Sports Group directors hailed Klopp for his achivements at Anfield and said work was already underway to ensure success when he departs
‘It didn’t start [then], but of course 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.
‘For me it was super, super, super-important that I can help to bring this team back onto 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.’
While it is set to be an emotional end to the season for everyone involved at the club, the Fenway Sports Group owners have called for a ‘business as usual’ approach as Klopp sees out the final five months of the campaign.
FSG’s statement also included gratitude to the German for ‘everything he has done and continues to do for Liverpool Football Club’.