Jürgen Klopp has revealed that he will step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the current season. The 56-year-old informed the club’s owners of his decision, expressing his desire to leave when the 2023-24 campaign concludes.
After leading the Reds to another Wembley final, Klopp will continue overseeing the team’s remaining games before concluding his successful eight-and-a-half-year tenure at Anfield. During his time, Liverpool secured six major trophies under his guidance.
Assistant managers Pepijn Lijnders and Peter Krawietz, along with elite development coach Vitor Matos, will also leave their roles at the season end. Lijnders aims to pursue a career in management.
Klopp confirmed his decision on Liverpoolfc.com, providing insights into the reasons and timing of the announcement. He emphasized the need for clarity early on to facilitate a smooth transition in due course.
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.
“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.”
Klopp was appointed as Liverpool manager on October 8, 2015. It was a decision that would revolutionise the club and establish it as a force at home and abroad once more.
Under his stewardship, Liverpool have lifted the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FIFA Club World Cup, FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Super Cup, as well as the FA Community Shield.
Klopp 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.
“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.”
With five months still left to play of the current campaign, the Reds remain involved in four competitions – and while there are still trophies left to chase, Klopp will ensure any goodbyes are put firmly on hold until his final game in charge of Liverpool Football Club in May.
He said: “We will have a moment, maybe the last matchday here or somewhere else – I mean in other countries or other competitions. There’s enough time to do these kinds of things. Let’s now really go for it. The outside world want to use this decision, laugh about it, want to disturb us.
“We are Liverpool, we went through harder things together. And you went through harder things before me. Let’s make a strength of it. That would be really cool. Let’s squeeze everything out of this season and have another thing to smile about when we look back in the future.”
Responding to the news, Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon underlined the collective determination for a “business as usual” approach until the conclusion of Klopp’s tenure while also highlighting the scale of his ongoing impact upon Liverpool.
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