Jürgen Klopp leaves Liverpool: his immediate future and the five managers rumored to replace him

German Jurgen Klopp gave the big surprise of the day in the world football scene, announcing that he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, despite still having two years left on his contract as boss of the team that leads the championship. premier league.

Klopp, who recorded a video to explain his decision, also announced that he will take a sabbatical and assured that he will not accept any job offers for the 2024/2025 period.

“Will I work again? Of course, but I won’t be managing a club or a national team for at least a year,” Klopp said in an interview with Liverpool media.

“What I know 100% is that I will not manage a club in England other than Liverpool. It’s not possible. My love for this club and my respect for the people is too great. I couldn’t even think about it for a while. Second. This is part of my life, we are a family and I feel at home here,” he said.

Klopp, who arrived at Anfield in October 2015, led Liverpool back to European glory, winning the Champions League in 2019, and domestic success, winning their first league title in 30 years in 2020, as well as winning an FA Cup, League. , a European Super Cup and a Club World Cup.

“I’m running out of energy,” Klopp said in an interview with the club’s media in which he explained the reasons for his departure: “I don’t have any problem, obviously. I knew I would have to announce it at some point. all good, but I know I can’t do this job again and again.

Klopp explained that he informed the board of his departure in November, when they began planning for next season, and said to himself: “I don’t know if I’ll be here next year.”

Klopp leaves Liverpool: the five candidates to replace him

With the Argentine Alexis MacAllister Among its main figures, Liverpool are leaders of a hotly contested Premier League, with several contenders willing to fight for that top position. And it keeps the fronts open in multiple competitions at the same time: Europa League, FA Cup and the League Cup final, where they will face Chelsea in search of their eighth trophy since the German’s arrival.

This is why the British press is already looking to the future and hypothesizing possible successors to this glorious period in which Liverpool won everything. According to The Sun, one of the hottest names in the preferences is Xabi Alonso, with a past as a player and a more than auspicious present this year as coach of Bayer Leverkusen, leader and undefeated in the Bundesliga. Although he has a contract until 2026, one of the clauses in his contract would allow him to move to the Premier League.

Added to the Spanish name Roberto De Zerbithe Italian who manages one of the revelations of English football, Brighton, sixth in the last championship and finished five points behind Liverpool despite having a much smaller budget than that of the Reds.

If the idea is to look for managers who are doing things well, in Liverpool they take note and know where to aim. It is that another of the candidates to occupy the empty space left by Klopp, they say, is Unai Emery. The Spanish coach accepted the challenge of managing an Aston Villa that couldn’t find his direction and with a very offensive style (and the hands of Draw Martínez, logically) he launched himself into the great fight for the top places of the tournament, chasing Liverpool. . .

A feasible but less promising alternative is also that of Steven Gerrard, a legend as a club footballer but without many scrolls giving instructions from the bench. He currently coaches in the Saudi league, leading Al Ettifaq, and has just renewed a million dollar contract.

Finally, the fifth option mentioned in England is that of an old acquaintance from European football who recently lost his job: Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese left Roma without giving any indication of his future but warned that he wanted to continue working. It’s a striking name but his recent time in England hasn’t been the same as his happiest period, when he was champion with Chelsea.