Jurgen Klopp to reject any Premier League approach ahead of six-month break despite talk of replacing Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool
Rodgers will remain manager of Liverpool but a poor start to next season could see the club make an approach to free agent Klopp after he leaves Borussia Dortmund
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Your support makes all the difference.Jürgen Klopp looks set to reject any approach form a Premier League club in order to take a six-month break from management despite talk linking him with the Liverpool job.
Brendan Rodgers is under pressure to convert Liverpool’s lavish spending into success, and despite The Independent confirming that his job is safe for the time being, a poor start to the new season will raise further questions over his future at Anfield.
But Klopp, who is currently the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next manager at Liverpool once Rodgers’ time in charge comes to an end, looks set to snub any offers in order to take a break from football and recharge his batteries.
According to German newspaper Bild, Klopp will take a six-month sabbatical before assessing his options, having guided Borussia Dortmund to a 3-2 victory in his final game in charge on Saturday that secured seventh in the Bundesliga.
One of those options could turn out to be Dormtund’s rivals Bayern Munich, and Klopp admitted that he could see himself as manager of the German champion at some point in the future.
Asked if the job suited his ambitions, Klopp said: “Yeah. I am a football coach. I want to work for a while, but at the moment it is difficult.”
The 47-year-old also hinted that the Real Madrid vacancy, which was made by Carlo Ancelotti’s sacking on Monday night, does interest him despite the club wanting a new manager who is fluent in Spanish.
“I can [speak] almost every German dialect, so I can learn Spanish - if I have to,” Klopp added tongue-in-cheek given that Rafael Benitez is likely to take the job as early as Monday.
Klopp also had a parting message for the Dortmund fans that gave him an overwhelming send-off on Saturday, with a giant tifo tribute showing a picture of the German alongside the words “Danke Jürgen”.
“Our seven years of being together ends next week,” said the departing Dortmund manager on a big screen inside the Signal Iduna Park. “We are together for the last time in this stadium, which has become my home.
“My coaching team and I were fortunate enough to come here in 2008 and if ever there was a win-win situation in football then this has been it. I take with me a bag full of the most positive memories and I hope you are too.”
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