Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Jurgen Klopp has agreed a three-year deal to become Liverpool manager.
The 48-year-old German replaces Brendan Rodgers, who was sacked on Sunday after three and a half years in charge with the club 10th in the Premier League.
Klopp has been out of work since May, when he ended a seven-year spell at Borussia Dortmund to take a sabbatical.
He is expected to have Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz – his former assistants at the Bundesliga club – as part of his coaching staff at Anfield.
No contract has yet been signed but that is viewed as a formality when Klopp arrives in Liverpool later on Thursday.
Klopp joined Dortmund in 2008 after seven years as Mainz boss, winning two German Bundesliga titles at the club.
They lost to Wolfsburg in last season’s German Cup final – his final game – at the end of a campaign in which they had finished seventh in the league.
Editor’s Note: Well Liverpool have got their man and quite quickly in fairness. Part of me wonders how much of the deal was done before Brendan Rodgers was shown the exit door. With it being an International Break Klopp will have little time to work with players, but then again maybe this is the perfect time to come in and get to grips with the club before his first game away to Spurs next Saturday (as a Spurs fan I’m almost bemoaning the fact that Liverpool now have a new Manager as I’m sure they’ll be bang up for next weeks match, if only we could have put Rodgers to the sword…never mind)
As for Klopp. What is success this season? 10th in the league after 8 games, the campaign is more than salvageable but is Champions League Football a dream too far this early or can Klopp work his magic straight away?. Are Liverpool fans looking at another “transition period” I suppose only time will tell. I think it will depend on where the club sits in January and whether or not the board are willing to reinforce the squad for them to kick on in the second half of the season.
I expect people will now be putting 2+2 together and getting 5 and making the obvious and somewhat lazy assumptions that players such as Reus and Hummels will be joining Klopp in the coming transfer windows, whether that happens remains to be seen but we are certainly set for some interesting times at Anfield.
