Jürgen Klopp has said he may not return to management after ending his eight-and-a-half-year reign as Liverpool manager, with the 56-year-old admitting he feels “empty” after the emotional strain of his last months at the helm of Liverpool. Anfield.
Liverpool claimed a 2-0 home win over Wolves to secure third place in the Premier League when Klopp retired after his 491st game in charge of the team on Sunday.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)
Feyenoord coach Arne Slot will succeed Klopp at Anfield after confirming his departure from the Dutch national team last week and Klopp expressed his support for his successor by chanting Slot's name on the pitch during a speech to the crowd after the match .
But after ending his Liverpool career at the age of 56, former Mainz and Borussia Dortmund manager Klopp said he will not manage again unless he has the “spark” he needs to work in the game again. .
“I don't know exactly why nobody believes that I probably won't be a manager again,” Klopp said in his post-match press conference at Anfield. “But I understand it because obviously it seems to be a drug; it seems that way because everyone comes back and everyone works until they're 70-something.
“I always had the idea that I wouldn't do that for a long time. Look, other people are smarter, other people can do it in different ways. I have to be totally involved, I have to be the spark, I have to be the energy, I have to be all these kinds of things and I'm empty.
“My biggest concern today was that [goalkeeper coach] John Achterberg was coughing next to me all the time and I thought he was going to wake me up and I'm sick because he was coughing in my direction.
“I have to start with the rest from time to time and then we'll see. But it's not now that I already feel it and [think about] maybe next opportunity.
“You just have to look outside at what clubs are obviously available and things like that. There will be opportunities, but I don't sit here and think, 'Maybe in a year I'll take advantage of that.' Right now, it's see you later.
“I love everything about the club, but it's time for me to leave. But look, it's not burning behind me and that gives me a good feeling.”
Klopp and his family will return to Germany once they attend a fan event in Liverpool next week, but said he will return to Anfield as a supporter in the future.
“I know I can and will come back,” he said. “As I said after the game, since today, since three hours ago, when the game ended, I have been a Liverpool fan and I love that.
“Now we'll have a party and then we'll come back for another event and I'll come back from time to time, like I said, now as a fan, and I'm okay with that, honestly.” “Maybe not for the first time.” game of the season…that's early, wow! Maybe after the second international break or something like that.”
