Liverpool: In a shocking announcement to the football world on Friday, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp stated he is “running out of energy” and will be leaving the team at the end of the season. Since taking over at Anfield in 2015, Klopp has turned Liverpool back into one of the biggest teams in European football. He stated that the decision was made after realizing that his “resources are not endless.”

The 56-year-old has assured Liverpool supporters that he will never coach another English team, and he intends to take at least a year off from management in May. In an interview posted on Liverpool’s website, Klopp stated, “I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time.”

“I adore everything about this team, the staff, the city, our supporters, and this club in general. My favorite things are all together. I adore everything. But the fact that I am choosing to go with this choice nonetheless demonstrates my conviction that it is the right one. The problem is that, dare I say it, my energy is dwindling.

Among his seven Anfield trophies, Klopp guided Liverpool to their first league title in thirty years in 2020 and Champions League glory in 2019. In order to end his life on a high note, he might add a few more in the upcoming months.

Liverpool leads the Premier League by five points, will play Chelsea in the League Cup final the following month, and is still playing in the FA Cup and Europa League. According to Klopp, he made the choice in November after starting to talk with the team about possible additions for the upcoming campaign. Liverpool struggled to live up to their usual standards under Klopp in the 2022–2023 season, following years of competing with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League and qualifying for the later stages of the Champions League. However, Klopp insisted that he couldn’t depart on such a negative note.

Guardiola will “get more rest”

“It was extremely important to me that I could assist in getting this team back on track. When it came to Liverpool’s comeback to form this season, Klopp stated, “That was all I was thinking about.” “I could start thinking about myself again when I realized pretty early on that it’s a really good team with massive potential and a super age group, super characters, and all that,” the statement reads. It’s just what I believe to be absolutely correct; it’s not what I want to do.

Although Klopp has previously expressed his desire to lead the German national team, he made a suggestion that those plans would have to wait until he has more energy. “I don’t know what will happen in the future, but for the upcoming year, there will be no club and no country. I promise you there will never be another English club,” he continued.

Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, has been Klopp’s biggest opponent thus far. On Friday night, following his team’s FA Cup victory over Tottenham, Guardiola gave the German a salute. He will undoubtedly be missed. To all of them, it was shocking. Without him, we at Manchester City cannot define our era,” Guardiola remarked.

“In my career, he is the greatest opponent I have faced.” I’ll get better sleep. It was always a nightmare to play Liverpool before! Liverpool’s owners, the US-based Fenway Sports Group (FSG), honored Klopp and announced that the search for his replacement will start right away. The favorite among bookmakers is Xabi Alonso, the Spanish former player for Liverpool who has led Bayer Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga this year in his role as coach. Roberto De Zerbi, the Brighton manager, is also a contender after taking the Seagulls to Europe for the first time this year.

Mike Gordon, president of FSG, stated, “It goes without saying that we will be enormously saddened to lose not just a manager of such calibre, but a person and leader for whom we have enormous respect, gratitude, and affection.” Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round match between Liverpool and Norwich will be Klopp’s first since the shocking announcement. Given that David Wagner, a close friend of Klopp’s who served as best man at the Reds manager’s wedding, manages Norwich, they make appropriate opponents.- AFP