JURGEN KLOPP will make a shock return to football management next month.
The former Liverpool boss announced he was taking a break from football after leaving the Reds at the end of last season, however, he has since hinted at his full retirement from the beautiful game.
PAJurgen Klopp will make a shock return to football management next month[/caption]
However, on September 7 Klopp will make a surprise return to the dugout.
This comes as he takes charge of old club Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park.
Klopp will take charge in a one-off farewell match for Lukasz Piszczek and Jakub Blaszczykowski.
The 57-year-old managed both during his time with the Bundesliga outfit.
In a video posted on Instagram by the Black and Yellow’s, Piszczek and Blaszczykowski were shown chatting about their plans for the game.
Piszczek says: “We need a coach and I have an idea, we’ll call the retired coach.”
The video then switches to Klopp picking up a video call while wearing black sunglasses and a white T-shirt.
He then says: “You finally have your farewell game. Oh my god. And you want to train before the game. Are you stupid?”
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The pair burst out laughing before asking which team he will take charge of.
To which Klopp replies: “I couldn’t care less. I do it like I used to, I start thinking about it five minutes beforehand.
“Is the game sold out? I’d buy a ticket if I wasn’t coming anyway!”
Klopp won two league titles with the club, as well as the DFB-Pokal and two DFL-Supercups.
At Liverpool he achieved even more, landing the Premier League, an FA Cup, the Champions League, Europa League, Uefa Super Cup and two Carabao Cups.
In his emotional video announcing he was leaving Liverpool, Klopp said he was “running out of energy”.
Klopp has been linked with a number of roles since leaving the Reds, including links to the England national team and being offered the USA job, but has turned them down.
Reacting to job speculation in July, Klopp said: “At the moment, there is nothing at all in terms of jobs. No club, no country. A few people must not have heard this part.
“And it would be the biggest loss of face in the history of football if you said, ‘I’ll make an exception for you now’.”
Klopp has botched his Liverpool exit… and it’s cost him his legacy, says Dave Kidd
By Dave Kidd
NOW we know Jurgen Klopp’s final major trophy haul at Liverpool — one Champions League, one Premier League, one FA Cup, two League Cups and (if you must) a World Club Cup.
But where does his reign stand among the greatest of the Premier League era?
In black-and-white terms, Klopp is way behind Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola, the only two men to have won multiple Premier Leagues and a Champions League at the same club.
Those two sit alongside Brian Clough, Bob Paisley and Sir Matt Busby as the undoubted all-time managerial greats of the English game.
But Klopp ranks in the next tier down — with Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho (the Chelsea version), Bill Shankly and Don Revie.
These were all men with the strength of character to transform their clubs in their own image and enjoy success but who did not win as much as they might have done.
Had Klopp managed to keep his intentions under wraps and ended up with another title, perhaps even a treble or quadruple, he’d have edged himself up into that highest echelon with Ferguson, Guardiola, Clough, Paisley and Busby.
But deciding the timing and the manner of your exit is one of the toughest calls for any manager or sportsman.
Klopp got it wrong.
Read Dave Kidd’s take on Klopp’s demise in full here.
Or click here to check out all of Dave Kidd’s articles.