By the end of his nine years at Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp had a number of enemies who would frequently be in his line of fire, including referees, broadcasters and international managers.
Klopp has stepped across to the dark side and become two of those he used to argue about. A regular pundit on German TV, the 59-year-old’s analysis has become appointment viewing around the country.
Now he is the national team boss, or bundestrainer as they call him, after succeeding the failing Julian Nagelsmann on the back of a poor World Cup campaign which saw the four-time champions of the world lose to lowly Paraguay in the first knockout round.
Noting his former grievances, Klopp was different on TV duty – sticking up for managers, though he did cause a storm when he said Nagelsmann is ‘for now’ (with emphasis) the coach in June, a slip that caused him to apologise and say: ‘I could have punched myself in the face.’
And now he is doing things differently as the country’s head coach. With his old pet peeve of international bosses overworking his Liverpool players during the international window, Klopp – familiarly known as ‘Kloppo’ in the local media – has opted for a different approach.
Instead of picking one squad like his compatriot Thomas Tuchel and many others have for their teams, Klopp has named two. That’s a mega 44 players, half for the first week, half for the second (with goalkeeper Finn Dahmen, of Augsburg, pulling the short straw of being in both).
Jurgen Klopp has rediscovered his mojo and is ready to revive German football
Legend Lothar Matthaus called it an ‘outstanding idea’ while Jurgen Klinsmann dubbed it ‘brave’. Whatever it is, it has earned the acclaim of club bosses in Germany and beyond, who now know their stars will get at least one week off before or after their international duty.
It is not designed solely to please the likes of Mikel Arteta, Andoni Iraola and Vincent Kompany, mind. Klopp wants to be open minded and believes change can only happen by actually doing that: changing things.
German football, Klopp believes, has been too rigid in its model since winning the World Cup in 2014 and thinks it needs another reboot. The selection includes 16 uncapped players who will breathe new life into a failing setup, just like how he trusted youth in his club jobs.
Lots of the selection is based on a meritocracy: seventh-placed newly-promotion Elversberg have seen their stars rewarded, for example. Imagine Tuchel suddenly calling up half of the squad of high-flying Hull.
It also means the often-negative German press is focusing on these positive stories, such as Bambase Conte, who Klopp said laughed for two minutes in shock when called, or Celtic’s Mika Baur, a second-tier player last term, or Younes Ebnoutalib, whose call-up leaked on TikTok.
But Klopp hasn’t returned to management just as a PR exercise. He genuinely wants to help and believes he is ready. Sources say he was never captivated by any approach from a club side – and there were many, including Real Madrid – and only this job would tempt him back.
Since leaving Liverpool in 2024, the boss has achieved several things but most notably is to get his mojo back. Nearly 60, Klopp was drained, both physically and mentally, when he walked away from the high-stress hot seat at Anfield. He needed a break.
Klopp needed time away from football following his high-intensity spell at Liverpool
He is already ripping up the rulebook by selecting two separate squads
Padel, starting an Instagram account and tanning in Mallorca were what followed but even two months after his exit, murmurs started that he was bored. Pepijn Lijnders, his No 2, said in an interview with Daily Mail Sport that Klopp would FaceTime him to talk football every day.
Klopp soon returned to the game as head of global football at Red Bull, a job which had an exit clause that allowed him to apply for the Germany national team job, which was purposefully inserted – easy to say in hindsight – by his agent Marc Kosicke, who is still by his side.
German football fans hounded this move. Red Bull, who own RB Leipzig, are often dubbed the most hated team in the country and supporters of his former club Borussia Dortmund held up banners berating a former quote of his calling himself a ‘football romantic’.
Another former club Mainz, unfurled a banner saying ‘everything we gave you, you forgot’ and others calling Leipzig chief executive Oliver Mintzlaff and his team ‘the grave diggers of German football’ given their money-fuelled rise through the leagues at the expense of traditional teams.
Klopp was understandably hurt by this but felt he grew in his role at Red Bull. He was hands-on even during the World Cup, playing an instrumental role in appointing former Manchester City defender Martin Demichellis as Leipzig manager.
One thing he will be tasked to do is improve Florian Wirtz, a poster-boy of German football who is heading dangerously towards being labelled a flop at Liverpool given his £116million price tag. The former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder will join the squad after the first two games.
His old club Liverpool will hope he can help Florian Wirtz kickstart his career
Klopp has spoken to many club managers but it is understood Iraola is not one of those, though the Basque hopes the Germany boss can help inject some confidence into Wirtz, who appeared to have the world at his feet when he moved to England.
He has also tried to professionalise the environment after the 39-year-old Nagelsmann departed. Everyone must eat together, phones are prohibited before matches, haircuts are banned at the team hotel and family visits will be limited during tournaments.
The first opponent will be his old pal Virgil van Dijk and the Netherlands, now managed by Barcelona legend Xavi. Klopp has joked that he knows more Dutch players than Spaniard Xavi given he managed several at Liverpool.
He knows it won’t be quick, but as he says: ‘I’d go through fire for the lads. If the lads give their all, I’m responsible for the defeats, no ifs, ands, or buts. Everything looks very good, but it’s more like a barbecue; we haven’t been able to ignite anything more than that yet.
‘But we’ll work on making it look like we’re doing this for each other.’
