Jurgen Klopp to leave Borussia Dortmund: Manager opens door to Arsenal move as he won't take a sabbatical when he leaves Dortmund
Dortmund sit 10th in the Bundesliga after a disappointing season
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Your support makes all the difference.Borussia Dortmund have called a press conference at 12.30 BST amid suggestions that head coach Jürgen Klopp has asked for his contract to be terminated immediately.
With Dortmund sitting tenth in the Bundesliga table and coming off the back of a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach, German newspaper Bild is reporting that the 47-year-old his contacted the club’s hierarchy in order to have his contract terminated and bring an end to his successful spell with the Signal Iduna Park outfit.
With the club announcing a press conference later today, speculation is rife that Klopp will leave the club before the season is out, given their disastrous start that saw them bottom of the table after Christmas and languishing in tenth following the weekend defeat to Gladbach.
Klopp has long been linked with a move to the Premier League with Arsenal a possible destination given the constant speculation over Arsène Wenger’s future at the club. However, with the Gunners’ manager tied down to a long-term contract that runs through to 2017, Klopp could emerge as a possible target for Manchester City should they axe current manager Manuel Pellegrini.
The Chilean has overseen a dramatic slump in their title defence that has seen City plunge from second to fourth and they now face a fight to finish in the top four and qualify for next season’s Champions League, with Liverpool just four points behind in fifth.
City have also been eliminated in all three cup competitions this season, and failure to secure a trophy come the end of the season could spell the end for Pellegrini, despite his own insistence that silverware is not a requirement at the Etihad.
Since Klopp took over at the Westfalenstadion in 2008, he has overseen a revival at the club that saw them claim back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12, as well as secure the German Cup in 2012 to complete the double.
Klopp’s crowning moment nearly came in the 2012-13 Champions League final, but defeat to Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium saw Dortmund miss out on the European Cup by the narrowest of margins.
They remain in the German Cup this season having been eliminated from the Champions League by Juventus in the last-16, but an encounter with reigning champions Bayern remains a daunting prospect at best and their chances of reaching the final can be rated as unlikely.
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