Liverpool’s struggles in Arne Slott’s second season have sparked rumors that Jurgen Klopp could return to Merseyside, but there are plenty of reasons why that won’t happen.
Jurgen Klopp doesn’t need to risk Liverpool’s legacy (Image: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
Manager Jurgen Klopp has been very careful not to say ‘never’. “I said I would never coach another team in England, so if I were to come back it would be Liverpool,” he said last year. “Well, theoretically it’s possible.”
Klopp left Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 season after spending eight-and-a-half years in the Anfield feature seat. It’s been almost two years since he left, and much of that time has been filled with rumors, including about a possible return to Liverpool, about Real Madrid, about a job in England and about becoming Germany manager.
Nevertheless, he remains Red Bull’s head of global football.
The rumors have come back recently. Liverpool are struggling under manager Arne Slott and are fifth in the Premier League, 21 points behind leaders Arsenal, and there are reports that sporting director Richard Hughes could head to Saudi Arabia. A period of change may be coming for Liverpool, who spent a lot of money in the summer transfer window but did not have the desired effect.
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But will Klopp return? It has come to the fore once again with his return to Anfield for a charity legend match against Borussia Dortmund on March 28th.
It largely depends on the passage of time. Absence makes the wound more dear, heals it, and adds weight to nostalgia. Fans were tired of watching teams in the slot struggle to press their opponents and fade in matches.
“The most impressive thing for me about Liverpool’s defeat was the press,” Jamie Carragher recently pointed out. “Pressing wasn’t just Jurgen Klopp’s thing, but the point of people saying ‘it’s hard to go to Anfield’ is not that Liverpool are always great on the ball or that they have the best players. It’s that the pitch is tight, the fans are on you and Liverpool chase, win the ball back and move forward. That’s what’s sorely missing and that’s Liverpool’s biggest problem right now.”
Manager Jurgen Klopp does not appear to be in a hurry to return to management (Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
In the face of these current issues, it’s tempting to remember Klopp’s full-throttle, attacking, high-energy brilliance at his peak. You probably won’t remember why Slott came in to replace Klopp in the first place. Even if these reasons explain why the German player would not jump at the chance to return to Liverpool’s red team and become a savior.
In announcing his departure in January 2024, Klopp said he was “running out of energy” before adding: “I know I can’t do this job over and over again.”
In short, he was burnt out. Klopp’s final days at Liverpool have some similarities to Pep Guardiola’s current spell at Manchester City: increasingly exhausted, introspective and, frankly, not as good as he once was.
After being freed from the highly intense whirlpool of elite-level club management, Klopp found himself much more balanced with Red Bull, moving his multi-club structure overseas, earning £10m per season and being far more flexible.
Jurgen Klopp and Ulla Sandrock are enjoying a slower pace of life (Image: Gisela Schober/Getty Images)
“I want to know another life,” the 58-year-old said in May 2024 of his new, laid-back life with wife Ulla in a £3.4 million villa in Mallorca.
“As a human being, I’m in a place where I feel completely safe where I am. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Klopp told AFP in January. “Do I want to coach again? I can say no at this point, but I can’t say absolutely, never, ever. I don’t think I’ll change my mind, but I don’t know.”
I believe in him. And the only job that could change him is not the mentality he has already had 489 games under his belt. He would be putting his extremely positive legacy at risk by returning to Liverpool.
What would make more sense would be for Klopp to leave his comfortable and well-paid job at Red Bull and join the German national team. Carlo Ancelotti took over in Brazil and Jose Mourinho remains involved in the Portugal job. And it’s easy to imagine Klopp becoming Julian Nagelsmann’s successor when the time comes. Until then, he will have to put up with the rumors.
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