Jurgen Klopp made favourite to take on major new job as former Liverpool boss’ past comments indicate wish

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is being pushed to return to management having been lined up to become the next Germany manager by Rudi Voller, while it has also emerged exactly when he could take on the role.

Klopp stepped away from the Anfield hot-seat at the end of last season after admitting he had run out of steam and needed a well-earned break from football after close to nine hugely successful years in the Liverpool dugout. Having won seven trophies and having led the Reds to four major European finals in that time, Klopp will rightly go down in the history books as one of their greatest managers of all time.

While Klopp escaped the rigours of Premier League management to move into his luxury Majorcan villa, he has rarely been seen out of the spotlight since, even returning to Anfield for a Taylor Swift concert, popping up at the Paralympics and most recently, stepping back into the dugout at his former club Borussia Dortmund for a testimonial game.

With much fascination over just when he might return to management permanently, iconic former Germany star, Rudi Voller, has admitted his federation already has their eyes on Klopp to take on the national manager’s role.

Voller, who is the director of the German national side, told Aktuelle Sportstudio: “I don’t even know what Jurgen would like to do again.

“If Julian Nagelsmann were to decide at some point that he would rather coach a top club again – then of course there is no way around Jurgen Klopp. If he wants to.”

Speaking to Sky Germany last year, Klopp admitted the job would also tempt him in the future: “The job of national coach is and would be a great honor – there’s no question about that. The problem that stands in the way of the whole thing is my loyalty.

“I can’t just leave Liverpool now and say I’ll take over Germany for a short time. That doesn’t work and the request isn’t even there. If I’m supposed to do that at some point, then I have to be available and I’m not currently. I have a responsibility towards the club.”

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What has Klopp said about returning to management?

While Klopp has not said anything publicly on when he could return to the game, he did offer an indication that the Germany job would float his boat.

“Basically, it’s an interesting job,” he continued. “But I don’t know yet whether I’ll do something completely different after I leave Liverpool. I want to keep my options open.”

On his need to take a break, Klopp added: “If you ask me, ‘Will you ever work as a manager again? ‘ I would say now no. But I don’t know obviously how that will feel because I never had the situation. What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool.

“But all the rest, will I ever work again? Of course, I know myself, I cannot just sit around. I will find something else maybe to do. But I will not manage a club or a country at least for a year, that’s not possible, I cannot do that and I don’t want to. That’s all.”

German pundit Marcel Reif, speaking on BILD‘s football talk show, recently confirmed his understandading that Klopp will return to football management some time in 2025 – and insists a sensational return to the Premier League cannot be ruled out.

“He is not the type of person who will spend the next few years on the ‘finca’ in Mallorca thinking about the sense and nonsense of the world,” Reif began, before insisting it is just not in the 57-year-old’s nature to sit and watch the world go by.

“I think there is still far too much of a coach in him. I’m betting that he will be working as a coach somewhere again in the foreseeable future. He will return in 2025.”

When asked where he will work next, Reif added: “Abroad! He can also manage in the Premier League.”

Carragher on why Liverpool can’t win title / Alexander-Arnold heir named

Meanwhile, Klopp’s successor Arne Slot has been told a push to win the Premier League title is beyond him and Liverpool this season.

Despite picking up five wins from six games – a home defeat to Nottingham Forest their only setback – Jamie Carragher feels Liverpool still rank as the third best team in English football – though is adamant they will make a fist of winning it next season.

Elsewhere, Liverpool have reportedly earmarked Bayer Leverkusen defender Jeremie Frimpong as the ideal successor to Trent Alexander-Arnold, amid fears the right-back could be tempted to leave for Real Madrid at the end of the current campaign.

The homegrown Reds star falls out of contract next summer and while he has indicated a willingness to hang around, Richard Hughes is understood to have drawn up a list of replacements – with Frimpong right at the top.

He has a tempting exit clause in his deal that comes into play next summer, with the Dutchman one of three Leverkusen stars the Reds are keeping an eye on.

Where have Liverpool managers managed next?

By Samuel Bannister

Brendan Rodgers – Celtic

Having led Liverpool to a runners-up finish in the 2013-14 Premier League, Brendan Rodgers earned the club’s long-term faith, but things would take a turn for the worse for the former Swansea City boss.

In October 2015, Liverpool were 10th in the table when they dispensed of Rodgers, who waited until the start of the following season to take up his next role. Uprooting from the Premier League, he signed on with Scottish Premiership side, Celtic.

Rodgers redeemed his reputation by leading Celtic to the treble, a feat he repeated in his second season too. They would go on to win a third consecutive domestic treble in 2018-19, but Rodgers – with a 69.82% win rate to his name – had left partway through to return to the Premier League with Leicester City.

He has been back at Celtic since 2023 for a second spell and won a league-and-cup double upon his return.

Kenny Dalglish – Liverpool board

Kenny Dalglish had not managed for over a decade when he returned to Liverpool for a second spell, overseeing the second half of the 2010-11 campaign and then the full 2011-12 season, in which they reached two cup finals, winning one, but only finished a lowly eighth in the league.

The club legend was dismissed in the aftermath and has never coached again, although he was brought back by Liverpool in October 2013 as a non-executive director.

Roy Hodgson – West Bromwich Albion

By the time he became Liverpool manager, Roy Hodgson had already had a varied career, taking charge of clubs in Scandinavia and Italy, as well as a handful of national teams.

His reign at Liverpool lasted just half a season, though, as he left them 12th in the table at the time of a mutual decision for him to be replaced.

Just over a month later, Hodgson signed up for a relegation battle with West Brom, which he successfully navigated. In fact, he steered them to their highest finish for three decades, coming 11th after a spell that included a win over Liverpool themselves.

Another win against Liverpool followed in the subsequent season, before Hodgson was chosen by the FA as the new England manager.

Rafael Benitez – Inter Milan

The manager who inspired Liverpool to their fifth European Cup, Rafael Benitez never quite got them over the line to lift the Premier League trophy despite a six-year spell in charge.

His next move after his exit in June 2010, officially by mutual consent, he earned the envious task of succeeding the treble-winning Jose Mourinho at Inter.

Benitez and Mourinho had had their disagreements during their time in English football, and the former Liverpool boss proved no match for the man he replaced in Serie A.

His final match in charge of Inter saw him win the Club World Cup, but souring relations led to his dismissal.

Gerard Houllier – Lyon

Winning a treble of cups with Liverpool in 2001 was the height of Gerard Houllier’s time on the touchline, which ended in May 2004.

After sitting out the whole 2004-05 season, Houllier’s next job was back in his native France, where Lyon – on a run of four consecutive Ligue 1 titles – handed him the reins.

Houllier continued Lyon’s dominance by claiming the French title in both of his seasons there, after which he became a technical director for the French national team.