Klopp to take sabbatical, rules out ever managing another English club

‘Not young rabbits anymore’: Jurgen Klopp plans to take a break from football once he finishes his spell in charge of Liverpool in May

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp plans to take a break from football for a year once his time in charge at Anfield finishes at the end of the season.

Klopp said he lacked the energy to go on as he made a shock announcement on Friday that he will step down in May.

The 56-year-old German has previously been linked with taking over his country’s national team.

But Klopp, who has won the Champions League and Premier League among seven trophies since taking over at Liverpool in 2015, said his immediate plan was for a break and that he would never manage another English club.

“Whatever will happen in the future I don’t know now but no club, no country for the next year. No other English club ever, I can promise that,” said Klopp at a press conference.

A journeyman defender who spent the vast majority of his playing career at Mainz, Klopp has become one of Europe’s leading coaches for the past two decades.

He enjoyed success in seven-year spells in charge of Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, where he won two Bundesliga titles, before joining a crisis-hit Liverpool in 2015.

Over the past nine years, he has transformed the club’s fortunes on and off the field with the money from repeated success in the Champions League enabling Liverpool to redevelop two stands at Anfield and build a new training ground.

“With all the responsibility you have in this job you have to be absolutely on the top of your game and I am doing this for 24 years now,” added Klopp.

“When you had the career I have it’s pretty much impossible to start where I start and arrive in Liverpool. But if it becomes possible it is because you invest everything you have and that is what I did.

“I realised my resources are not endless and I preferred to pack absolutely everything into this season then have a break or have to stop. We are not young rabbits anymore and we don’t jump as high as we did.”

Klopp has the chance to go out on a high with Liverpool five points clear at the top of the Premier League and in the running for three other trophies.

Thanks to a series of summer signings, the Reds have bounced back to form this season after a turbulent 2022/23 campaign and Klopp said he was leaving with a squad in place that would succeed even without him.

“This team is set up for the future…when I said Liverpool 2.0 that didn’t include me obviously for the next 10 years, but the team is there, the basis is there.

“Whoever comes in, you cannot ever guarantee to win trophies, but has a really good chance to play really good football.”

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