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At the Austrian corporation Red Bull, Klopp fills a role that doesn't seem to suit his personality. In Germany, many fans hope that he will one day become the coach of the national team...
Is Jürgen Klopp returning to England?
British newspapers recently reported that the former Liverpool manager is highly regarded by English record holders Manchester United. Such news is not at all surprising, given the strong impression Klopp made during his time at Liverpool.
Football fans will have to get used to such reports in the weeks and perhaps months to come. Recently, rumors have surfaced that Klopp, who has committed himself to the RB Group as its global head of football, is not as happy in his new position as he tries to appear to be in public. These assumptions were fueled by a report in Salzburger Nachrichten.
It was recently reported there that critical voices were being raised at the company's headquarters in Salzburg regarding Klopp's work. The fact that Jürgen Klopp was being considered as a candidate in Salzburg for the position of global director of football for the company was also first reported in that newspaper.
It's no surprise, then, that some insiders are taking the reports from Salzburg more seriously than the reaction of RB boss Oliver Mintzlaff, who called the speculation "absurd and completely unfounded" to Bild newspaper. However, it's well known that in football, a denial is practically a confirmation, especially since the newspaper had already predicted that the company's headquarters would "quickly deny" such reports.
The speculation does not seem unfounded. Apparently, RB Leipzig hoped that Klopp would help them close the gap with the international elite. However, what has happened is stagnation and, as in their Austrian headquarters, even the loss of their former hegemony; senior personnel, such as coach Thomas Letsch at Salzburg, have had to vacate their positions. The fact that his agent spoke almost simultaneously about Klopp's ties to Germany, thus fueling the hopes of many fans that Klopp could one day become coach of the national team, hardly seems a coincidence.
Football managers are something of a serial offender. Many of them return to the bench well into old age, even if the location changes frequently, although Klopp's clubs are very limited: after leaving Mainz, he helped Borussia Dortmund make an impressive comeback with league titles in 2011 and 2012, and with Liverpool he won the league title and the Champions League.
Klopp's sphere of activity was always limited; language is the most important criterion for him. It was even speculated that he was used to constantly traveling around the world without ever seeing the beautiful places where Borussia Dortmund or Liverpool FC played. A position at Red Bull, by comparison, would be much less stressful. However, such speculation raises a question: why can't a man like Klopp, whose previous salary would probably allow him more than just a hot meal a day, undertake such trips as a private citizen? Perhaps because there is something truly compelling about maintaining a connection to football.
Klopp knows his strengths as well as his limitations. He is no longer the type of coach whose skills lie in convincing players with sophisticated tactical concepts, and more the type who can inspire players to a degree that few other coaches achieve. Or, as Dortmund sporting director Lars Ricken once said: when you hear Klopp talking to a player he really wants, as a former professional, you immediately have the desire to start playing again.
It is hardly surprising that the price Klopp had to pay for his move to the Red Bull Group was not small: the aura of camaraderie that Klopp carefully cultivated at Dortmund and Liverpool was, in a way, destroyed overnight. However, such a transfer can also be liberating. It creates the space to no longer have to join the former working-class clubs, because their image is built around that.
The idea that "Klopp" was a fellow, the kind of guy you might meet at a local pub for a beer after work, was always based on projection. After all, Klopp was a successful football manager with a more persuasive and original rhetoric than his peers. Nothing more, but nothing less.
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