The full rationale behind Jurgen Klopp’s decision to step down as Liverpool manager has been made public.
Klopp, 56, will leave his post at the end of the season, despite having another year to run on his contract at Anfield. With the Reds, the German has experienced an incredible run of success, taking home the FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League, and Premier League titles.
Liverpool is currently leading the title chase under Klopp, despite a summer marked by significant upheaval. But whatever happens, the German will be moving on, along with his coaching staff, come the summer.
The Reds boss has admitted that his decision will come as a “shock” to supporters. However, he has stated that after living in Merseyside for almost ten years, he is exhausted.
“I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people at this moment when you hear it for the first time, but I can explain it—or at least try to explain it,” Klopp told Liverpool’s club website.
“I adore everything about this club—the players, the staff, the city, and our supporters—in addition to everything else. I love everything. But that I still take this decision shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take.
“It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now; obviously, I knew it already for longer that I would have to announce it at some point, but I am fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.
“The respect and love I had for you grew over the years we spent together, the time we spent together, and the experiences we shared. The truth is the least I can do for you, and that is the truth.
“I told the club already in November. I have to explain a little bit that maybe the job I do people see from the outside, I’m on the touchline and in training sessions and stuff like this, but the majority of all the things happen around these kinds of things. That means a season starts, and you plan pretty much the next season already.
“I was taken aback by the realization that I might not be here at all when we were sitting there discussing possible signings, the upcoming summer camp, and where we could go. I started thinking about it.
“It didn’t start [then], but of course last season was kind of a super-difficult season and there were moments when at other clubs probably the decision would have been, ‘Come on, thank you very much for everything but probably we should split here or end it here.’ That didn’t happen here.
“It was extremely important to me that I could assist in getting this team back on track. It was all I was thinking about. That was the result of my realizing early on that this was a really good team with a ton of potential, a super age group, super characters, and all that, and that I could start thinking about myself again. It is not what I want to [do], it is just what I think is 100 percent right.
We will have a brief opportunity, perhaps on this final matchday or in another location—I am talking about other nations or leagues. There’s enough time to do these kinds of things. Let’s now really go for it. The external environment seeks to take advantage of this choice, make fun of it, and annoy us.
We have experienced more difficult times together than Liverpool. And you went through harder things before me. Let’s make a strength of it. That would be cool. Let’s squeeze everything out of this season and have another thing to smile about when we look back in the future.”
