Jurgen Klopp has confirmed he will leave Liverpool at the end of the current campaign.
The German confirmed his imminent departure in a video posted on the club website, admitting that "he was running out of energy". You can watch it below.
Klopp has been at Liverpool since 2015 and won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Club World Cup.
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And while he was under contract at Anfield until 2026, the 56-year-old said he had told the owners in November of his intention to leave in the summer of 2024.
“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 club’s website.
“I love absolutely everything about this club, 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 take 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 will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and 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.”
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Pepijn Lijnders, Peter Krawietz and Vitor Matos are also set to leave Liverpool at the end of the season.
Liverpool reached the Carabao Cup final on Wednesday evening while they are top of the Premier League. They are still on course to finish the season with four trophies.
Klopp insisted no underlying health issues had led to the decision.
He said: “I am okay. I am healthy, as much as you can be at my age. I told the club already in November. I have to explain a little bit that maybe the job I do people see from the outside, I’m on the touchline and in training sessions and stuff like this, but the majority of all the things happen around these kind of things.
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“That means a season starts and you plan pretty much the next season already.
“When we sat there together talking about potential signings, the next summer camp and can we go wherever, the thought came up, ‘I am not sure I am here then anymore’ and I was surprised myself by that. I obviously start thinking about it.
“It didn’t start [then], but of course last season was kind of a super-difficult season and there were moments when at other clubs probably the decision would have been, ‘Come on, thank you very much for everything but probably we should split here, or end it here.’ That didn’t happen here, obviously. For me it was super, super, super-important that I can help to bring this team back onto the rails.”
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Featured Image Credit: GettyTopics: Football, Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, Premier League