Premier League
I Might Not Coach Any Club Again – Says Jurgen Klopp
Following his departure as Liverpool manager after an illustrious eight-and-a-half-year tenure, Jürgen Klopp has expressed uncertainty about his return to management. The 56-year-old revealed feeling “empty” due to the emotional toll of his final months at Anfield.
Liverpool played a 2-0 victory over Wolves at home, securing a third-place finish in the Premier League as Jürgen Klopp bid farewell after overseeing his 491st game in charge on Sunday.
Arne Slot, the current Feyenoord coach, is set to take over from Klopp at Anfield. Klopp showed his support for his successor by chanting Slot’s name on the pitch during a post-match address to the fans.
Having concluded his tenure at Liverpool at the age of 56, Jürgen Klopp, the former Mainz and Borussia Dortmund coach, stated that he will not resume his managerial career unless he rediscovers the necessary “spark” to re-engage with the game.
“I don’t know exactly why nobody believes I probably will not be a manager again,” Klopp said in his post-match news conference at Anfield. “But I understand because it seems to be a drug it looks like that because everybody comes back and everyone works until they are 70-something. I always had the idea that I would not do that long. Look, other people are smarter, other people can do it in different ways. I have to be all-in, I have to be the spark, I have to be the energy, I have to be all these kinds of things and I’m empty. That’s it.”
He continued, “My biggest worry today was that [goalkeeper coach] John Achterberg was coughing all the time next to me and I thought I would wake up and I’m ill because he did his coughing in my direction.’
“I have to start with the rest now and then we will see. But it’s not now that I feel now already and [think about] maybe the next opportunity.”
“You only have to look outside which clubs are available and stuff like this. There will be opportunities, but I don’t sit here and think, ‘Maybe in a year I take that.’ At this moment, it’s see you later.”
“I love all and everything about the club, but it’s time for me to go. But look, it’s not burning behind me and that gives me a good feeling.”
Klopp and his family will be returning to Germany after attending a fan event in Liverpool next week. However, he mentioned that he plans to come back to Anfield as a supporter in the future.
“I know I can come back and I will come back,” he said. “As I said after the game, from today, from three hours ago when the game finished, I’m a Liverpool supporter and I love that. Now we will have a party and then we will come back next for another event and I will come back occasionally just, as I said, as a supporter now, and I’m fine with that, honestly. “Maybe not for the first game of the season that’s early, wow! Maybe after the second international break or something like that.”
