Five key takeaways from Jurgen Klopp's statement as he announces Liverpool departure

Jurgen Klopp will step down at the end of the season

Jurgen Klopp said he told Liverpool owners he wanted to depart as manager back in November of last year.

The 56-year-old has today confirmed his decision to stand down, having taken charge at Liverpool in 2015. Klopp has won six trophies with the Reds, including the Premier League title in 2020 and the Champions League trophy the year before.

Explaining his decision in a video shared on LFC’s social media feeds, he said: “Ending up as the manager of Liverpool FC is a fairy tale. It is a difficult thing to plan, I would say an impossible thing to plan, and difficult to reach.”

READ FULL STORY HERE: Jurgen Klopp leaving Liverpool after bombshell announcement

He continued: “I came here, as I said in the first day, as a 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 to have a normal life. I need to at least give it a try at one point to see how it is.”

Doesn’t feel he can continue

Explaining that he does not feel he has the energy to continue, Klopp said: “I’m not the right one any more. I tried to describe it already, I had to explain it to Ulla clearly, I am like a proper sports car, not the best one but a pretty good one. I can still drive 160, 170, 180 miles per hour, but I’m the only one who sees the tank needle is going down.

“The outside world doesn’t see that, that’s good. So you go as long as you have to go, but then you need a break. And that’s exactly what I know I have to do now. But nobody has to worry until the end of the season I know that I will be fine until then.”

Wanted to leave in November

In an LFC interview he said he had made the decision months ago. Klopp said: “I am healthy, as much as you can [be] at my age. Little bits and bobs, stuff like that, but nothing anybody has to be concerned about, so that’s absolutely fine.

“I told the club already in November … When we sat there together talking about potential signings, the next summer camp and can we go wherever, the thought came up, ‘I am not sure I am here then any more’ and I was surprised myself by that.”

Plans for a ‘normal life’

Klopp said what he has said many times before, that he is a “normal guy”. He continued: “I came here, as I said in the first day, as a 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 to have a normal life. I need to at least give it a try at one point to see how it is.”

Wanted to tell people at the end of the season

Klopp said in an “ideal world” the news would have been kept under wraps until the end of the season. He said: “In an ideal world I wouldn’t have said anything to anybody until the end of the season, win everything and then say goodbye.

“That’s not possible. In the world we are living in, it’s not possible to keep things like this secret; it’s maybe a surprise that we could keep it [a secret] until now.

“There are so many things which are influenced by it, especially personal situations. People from my staff need to know early – and especially the club needs to know early and needs to plan. You cannot plan anything and you cannot really start.

“You can do a lot of stuff with knowing it but not making it public, but the decisive things, a lot of things, you cannot do.”

The club’s reaction

When asked how club owners reacted to Klopp’s decision to quit, he explained: “They didn’t smash a party! We developed a really good relationship over the years, but I explained it and they know me now for so long that they know I don’t say these kind of things and leave a little bit of the door open, ‘Come on, try to convince me’ and these kind of things.

“As I said, we’ve known each for so long and that good. That was clear and they accepted, they just accepted it. Nobody was really happy.”

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