Soccer: Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp to resign at end of season; cites energy loss

Manager Jurgen Klopp will resign from Liverpool at the end of this season. Photo by Peter Powell/EPA-EFE

Jan. 26 (UPI) — Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will resign at the end of the season because he is “running out of energy,” he announced Friday.

“I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time, but obviously I can explain it — or at least try to explain it,” Klopp told the team website.

Klopp, 56, led the first-place Reds to a 14-1-6 start to the Premier League season. The Reds finished fifth in 2022-23, second in 2021-22 and third in 2020-21. They won the league in 2019-20.

“I tried to explain it with, I’m like a proper sports car — not the best one, but a pretty good one,” Klopp said. “I can still drive 160, 170, 180 mph, but I’m the only one who sees the tank meter is going down.

“The outside world doesn’t see that, that’s good, so you go until as long as we have to go, but then you need a break. In this case, you need to go to the petrol station.”

The Reds finished eighth in the Premier League in 2015-16, when Klopp took over as manager midseason. They finished fourth for the next two seasons and second in 2018-19, before their title-winning run.

The Reds set a record for the earliest clinching of the league, winning with seven games remaining during that campaign.

They also tied the record for the most wins (32) in a Premier League season.

The Reds finished third in 2020-21 and second in 2021-22. They placed fifth last year, their worst finish during a full season under Klopp.

Klopp also led the Reds to a Champions League title in 2018-19, just their second since 1983-84. Liverpool won the Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2019. They won the FA Cup and EFL Cup in 2021-22.

“I love absolutely everything about this club,” Klopp said. “I love everything about the city. I love everything about our supporters. I love the team. I love the staff. I love everything. But that I still took this decision, shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take.”

“It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I would have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now.

“I know that I cannot do the job again and again. After the years we had together and after all the time we spent together and after all the things we went through together, the respect grew for you, the love grew for you and the least I owe you is the truth — and that is the truth.”

He said he is still “100% in it,” when asked about his commitment for the remainder of this season. He also said he plans to work again at some point, but will never manager a different club in England.

Klopp, who previously coached German Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and Mainz, plans to take a break from managing — on the club or national-team level — for at least one year.

The Reds will host Norwich City in an FA Cup match at 9:30 a.m. EST Sunday at Anfield in Liverpool, England. They will return to league play for a rivalry match against Chelsea on Wednesday at Anfield.