Jurgen Klopp left a Liverpool icon confused by his comments about a potential return to Anfield
Phil Thompson has given his view on Jurgen Klopp’s surprise admission that he could one day return to manage the Premier League champions. The German left Anfield at the end of the 2023/24 season, putting an end to his nine-year reign as he re-established the club’s place among Europe’s premier clubs.
After a six-month break from football, the 58-year-old returned to the sport but in a different role as he was appointed the head of global soccer at Red Bull in January. In interviews Klopp has conducted since leaving Anfield, he has insisted that he does not miss coaching.
However, while speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp revealed that it’s not perhaps a foregone conclusion that he never returns to lead Liverpool in the future.
He said: “I said I will never coach a different team in England. So that means if [Klopp returns] it’s Liverpool. So yeah, theoretically it’s possible. I love what I do right now, I don’t miss coaching. I don’t. I mean I do coach, just different, not players.
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“And I don’t miss it. I don’t miss standing in the rain two-and-a-half, three hours. I don’t miss going to press conference three times a week, having 10-12 interviews a week. I don’t miss that. I don’t miss being in the dressing room in the sense that I don’t have it often enough, I coached 1,080 something games.”
He added: “So, I was in the dressing room very, very often. I’m 58, that’s from your perspective, old from the other side, it’s not that old. That means I could make the decision in a few years. I don’t know.
“[If] I had to make the decision today, I won’t coach again but thank God I don’t have to do that. I can just see what the future brings.”
Klopp’s admission was put to Sam Allardyce and Phil Thompson in the latest edition of the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, and it was the Reds icon who questioned why the former boss would reveal that publicly.
“I thought that was naughty and that was a couple of weeks ago,” the ex-Liverpool captain said. “I thought him being asked the question like that didn’t help Arne [Slot] who was then under a lot of pressure.
“[His comments] came three or four games into the [unbeaten] run and I thought ‘why have you said that Jurgen’. It got a lot of traction and I was going ‘no’, we’ve been there and you hear that thing when you’re in there.
“I’m not saying it won’t happen and it’s not right.”
Liverpool’s unbeaten run in the Premier League currently stands at ten matches. However, the underwhelming performances during that streak means pressure on Arne Slot’s job has continued, especially with Xabi Alonso leaving Real Madrid last week.
The Dutchman was asked about the rumours linking Alonso with a return to Anfield, to which Slot jokingly answered: “Yes he called me and said: ‘What do you think about the team because I am going to take over in six months, can you tell me a little bit more?’
“Or maybe earlier. Maybe he takes over tomorrow! No, no, no. This is one of the weirdest questions I ever got. What is there it say? I am working here for a little bit more than one and a half years and I really like my work over here. We won the league last season, struggled more in the league this season. That is also obvious, so yes what is there left to say?”
