As much as Klopp deeply loves the club and the city, he missed home

JUST over four years ago, Jurgen Klopp attended a dinner organised by the Football Writers Association.

Manchester City chief Pep Guardiola was also there, along with a good number of managers being honoured for their achievements at clubs in the north of England.

But Klopp was the star of the show, wowing a hard-to-please audience with a typically amusing speech and happily giving his time to sponsors and their guests.

Sitting next to Klopp was an eye-opener. He was scheduled to leave around nine o’clock but decided to stay a good while longer.

Why? Because he was enjoying a rare time when he could have an uninterrupted beer or three. As a rule, journalists don’t ask for autographs or selfies.

Klopp explained how he did not mind obliging fans when he was out in a social environment but felt sorry for the company he was in, for his friends and family, whose days or evenings were being affected by the constant attention.

For such an extrovert in a football stadium, he was, he said, essentially quite a private man. Klopp then told me about a recent trip back to Germany. He had gone to a school reunion and a few old school-mates had lost touch with what he was doing and had to ask.

Klopp loved that, the relative anonymity, and as much as he deeply loves Liverpool, the club and the city, he missed home.

It was during that dinner that he said there was no way he would have the sort of longevity at Anfield that Sir Alex Ferguson had at Old Trafford, which is why the new contract he signed in 2022 came as a little bit of a surprise.

While yesterday’s announcement was a seismic shock, there were confidantes of Klopp who believed the summer of 2024 was the time he would leave Liverpool.

And so it has proved.

In an interview with Mirror Sport after Liverpool’s title win in 2020, Klopp explained how – when he became Mainz manager in 2001 – he had given himself a target of “25 power years” in club management.

He might be just shy of that target but there is every chance his days as a club manager are done and dusted.

But, at least privately, Klopp has always expressed an interest in the German national job, currently held by Julian Nagelsmann. You can be sure he will not manage another club in England.

In terms of ‘getting’ a club and a city, no one has done it better than Klopp in the Premier League era.

And considering the financial might of Manchester City during his time here, the roll of honour is mightily impressive.

A Champions League, an FA Cup, an EFL Cup, a Club World Cup and, of course, a Premier League title.

When that trophy was lifted, only close friends and families of players and staff were there because of Covid restrictions.

How Klopp would love to lift it again after the final Premier League match of his career, which will be against Wolves at Anfield on May 19.

And, considering he writes so many of his own scripts, not many would bet against him doing that.