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Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool Football Club manager widely regarded as being both one of the best managers of his generation and in the history of football, has announced he will be leaving the club at the conclusion of the current 2023-24 season.
Klopp’s decision sent shockwaves through both the soccer world and the sports world at large. Just yesterday, for example, new Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan quoted Klopp in his introductory press conference.
Even NFL reported Diana Russini weighed in on Klopp’s announcement.
Imagine any NFL coach did it this way?
So much respect. https://t.co/jG4Brze7eQ
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) January 26, 2024
The 56-year-old Klopp, in a 25-minute long interview, explained that he is simply running out of the energy that it takes to manage a club like Liverpool.
“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,” Klopp said.
“I came here as a — and I said it the first day — normal guy. I am still a normal guy I just don’t live a normal life for too long now. And I don’t want to wait until I’m too old for having [sic] a normal life. And I need, at least, to give it a try, at one point, to see how it is,” he continued.
Unsurprisingly, Liverpool fans aren’t taking the news very well, as one joked on Twitter that they’re “a Trent to Madrid or a Salah to Saudi away from signing up for the army.”
when I realised it wasn’t a fake account dropping the Klopp news pic.twitter.com/k2pS8BFflQ
— Josh🩸 (@_lfcjosh) January 26, 2024
At the time of Klopp’s announcement, Liverpool sit atop with Premier League table with a five-point lead over Manchester City. The team is also in the final of the Carabao Cup and have advanced to the latter stages of the FA Cup and Europa League.
Since joining Liverpool in 2015, Klopp has led the club to titles in the Champions League, Premier League, Club World Cup, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, and Community Shield. The only major title he’s yet to win with Liverpool is the Europa League, which they are currently the odds-on favorite to win.