Jürgen Klopp announced on Friday that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, almost nine years after he first took charge of the club in 2015.
Some Liverpool players, likening this season to “the Last Dance”, may have hinted at Jürgen Klopp’s departure. Unbeknown to them, the manager had plans to leave at the end of the current campaign — and the unerring predictions did not end there.
Klopp, the 56-year-old manager, stunned the football world when he revealed he would exit Anfield in the summer. A few high-level chiefs had known since November, but Liverpool fans were left feeling as if they had been given no warning signs at all.
There was slight speculation regarding Klopp leaving Liverpool in previous years, but he would ultimately sign a contract extension in 2022 that was supposed to take him through to 2026. However, he, along with his assistant Pep Ljinders and other coaching staff members, will now depart when summer comes.
A recent report by The Athletic unveiled some details about Klopp’s decision and how it was communicated to both the Liverpool bosses and the team players. A few players, who found out about Klopp’s approaching exit on Friday, had previously made joking references to the Michael Jordan documentary, “The Last Dance”, following the summer refresh at the club.
It appears many thought Klopp was giving it his all for one more successful run with the team before an inevitable farewell. However, no one had overtly anticipated him leaving as quickly as this summer’s end.
Well, perhaps almost no one. In addition to the ‘Last Dance’ anecdote, The Telegraph reports that someone was heard to remark on the training ground a few days ago that Klopp is ‘managing like it his last year’. There’s no word of who made that unerring comment, but it has proved to be eerily prescient.
Klopp, who told the club in November he planned to leave, shared an emotional video message with fans on Friday via Liverpool’s official social media channels. “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,” Klopp said.
“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.”
He continued: “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.
“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.”
