Elite jobs could be on offer for Klopp after his BVB exit
JURGEN KLOPP put England’s top clubs on alert yesterday by confirming that he will leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season after seven years in charge.
Klopp was immediately installed as the bookmakers’ favourite to replace Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City, although it is understood that the struggling Premier League champions have no plans to make such a move.
The colourful 47-year-old coach has also been linked with Liverpool and Arsenal and has a long-standing interest in working in the Premiership.
He is among the most highly rated managers in European football after winning two Bundesliga titles and a German Cup at the Westfalenstadion, as well as l eading Dortmund to the final of the Champions League in 2013.
Klopp (below) insisted he has not had any contact with other clubs but confirmed he is open to offers, denying reports that he will take a sabbatical after a difficult season in which Dortmund have struggled towards the bottom of the table.
‘I am sure that the decision is absolutely right,’ he said at an emotional press conference. ‘This team deserves to have the absolutely 100-percent right coach. I believe that Borussia Dortmund actually needs a change. As long as I’m here, we are always considering the successes of the past.
‘What I have always said in the last few years is that in that moment when I feel I won’t be the perfect manager f or t his incredible club, then I would say it. I have of course, every now and then, thought about the topic in past years because it is always important to question yourself. I have, though, in the last weeks and days asked myself if I’m still the right manager. I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t answer with a yes.
‘I have had no contact with other clubs, either in England or elsewhere, but I am not planning a sabbatical. I don’t think of it as a load off my shoulders. I’m not tired, even though I look like this.’
Sources in Germany have not ruled out Klopp making a move to rivals Bayern Munich if Pep Guardiola fails to win the Champions League this season, despite a mutual dislike of the sporting director Matthias Sammer and the risk of tarnishing his reputation with Dortmund fans.
Having lost Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich last year, more key players are set to leave Dortmund this summer. Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan have been linked with a move to Manchester United.
Klopp was under contract until 2018 but his relationship with his squad is believed to have gone stale after so long in charge and only the ti ming of yesterday’s announcement was unexpected.
‘I believe this is the right decision at the right time,’ he added. ‘I just wanted to make my decision known so that the club can plan for the future. In the last few years, some player decisions were made late and there was no time to react.’
Thomas Tuchel, Klopp’s former youthteam coach at Mainz, is set to succeed him at Dortmund after he was overlooked for the managerial vacancy at Hamburg yesterday in favour of Bruno Labbadia.