Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has announced that he will leave the Anfield club at the end of the 2023/24 season.
The shock announcement comes with Liverpool five points clear at the top of the Premier League and chasing a second English title of the Klopp era.
It’s been a period of incredible success on Merseyside, with the 56-year-old German tactician guiding the Reds’ march to glory in the pandemic-interrupted 2019/20 season, which saw them finish as champions with 99 points – the second-highest total in Premier League history.
This ended Liverpool’s 30-year wait for a 19th English title. Featuring modern Premier League greats Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk, Klopp’s side also broke the 90-point mark in the 2018/19 and 2021/22 seasons, but were overtaken by Pep Guardiola on the final day. City of Manchester.
Why is Jurgen Klopp leaving Liverpool?
The news will hit Liverpool fans hard, but it has also sparked outrage around the Premier League.
The match between Guardiola and Klopp proved to be the defining rivalry of its era in English football. In 2018, Liverpool knocked Man City out of the UEFA Champions League en route to a final defeat against Real Madrid in Kyiv.
They also lost to Los Blancos in the 2022 final, but Klopp secured Liverpool’s sixth European crown when they beat Tottenham 2-0 at Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano in 2019.
This success facilitated glory in the 2019 editions of the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. Liverpool also won a domestic Carabao Cup and FA Cup knockout double in the 2020/21 season.
Liverpool remain in contention this time around in these tournaments after reaching the Carabao Cup final with a 3-2 aggregate win over Fulham, while an exciting new squad featuring the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and a rejuvenated Trent Alexander -Arnold ushered in a new era of success.
It means Klopp’s decision to step down will come as a huge bombshell. Having joined the club in October 2015, he offered a clear explanation for his expected departure when he spoke to Liverpool’s internal media team on 26 January.
“I will leave the club at the end of the season. I understand that it is a shock for a lot of people when you read this for the first time,” he said.
“Of course I can explain it, or at least try to explain it. I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about this city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything.”
“The fact that I’m still making this decision probably shows you that I’m convinced that this is what I have to do. It’s that I’m… how should I say it… I’m running out of energy.”
“I don’t have a problem now. I think I’ve known for longer that I’ll have to announce it someday. But now I’m perfectly fine, but I also know that I can’t do the job over and over and over and over again.
“After all the years we’ve been together, and all the times we’ve spent together, all the things we’ve been through together, I’ve grown to respect you and love you. The least I owe you is the truth . And that is true.” “
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