On 8 October 2015, Liverpool announced they had appointed Jurgen Klopp as their new manager. The club were 8th in the Premier League and looked a mile away from challenging for the title. Previous manager Brendan Rodgers had almost ended the club’s title drought in 2014/15 but missed out to Man City. It was hoped they would build on that but they were going backwards and needed an new spark and new ideas to breathe life into the Anfield club.
Enter German Jurgen Klopp. Klopp was renowned for his ‘heavy metal football’ with Borussia Dortmund. They constantly took it to the biggest teams on the European stage and at home, Klopp led Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles from 2010-2012. He also added the DFB Pokal to his collection by defeating rivals Bayern Munich 5-2 in the final.
A lot of clubs had been tracking this high energy, intense individual but it was Liverpool who took the plunge and brought him to Merseyside, which proved to be one of the most inspired decisions in their history.
Klopp impact is massive
In his first season, Klopp led Liverpool to the finals of both the League Cup and the Europa League. Though they lost in both of those matches, he had instantly turned the team around and it was clear he was putting foundations in place to make Liverpool perennial challengers for the biggest honors.
It was the summer of 2018 when many believe Liverpool really started to become the major force they are now because of two key signings. Centre back Virgil Van Dijk signed from Southampton for £75 million, a then world-record for a defender, followed by goalkeeper Alisson Becker from Roma which was another record fee for the position at £66.8 million.
Both made a huge impact as Liverpool could now attack with all the verve and energy they had shown under Klopp, but with the assurance they had a world class keeper and centre back also shutting teams out at the other end. Klopp built up a huge emotional connection with the Anfield crowd, and together they rose to become the main challengers to Man City.
After coming up just short in the title race to City, Klopp landed his first trophy with Liverpool in 2019, winning the Champions League in Rome against Spurs. It cemented his legacy in Liverpool history, but the one he, and Liverpool fans really wanted, was the PL title.
Their prayers were answered in the 2019-20 season. Liverpool finally got their hands on the Premier League title for the first time in their history. It ended 30 years of hurt and ensured Klopp would be remembered alongside Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley as the greatest ever Liverpool managers.
Shock Announcement
Liverpool are once again challenging for the title this year, but on 26 January, Klopp shocked the footballing world by announcing he would be leaving the club at the end of this season. He cited tiredness as the major reason, with Liverpool going through somewhat of a rebuild with older players moving on and a lot recruitment required to refresh the squad.
Klopp said he want to out in a blaze of glory and it looked to be the case after winning the League Cup. There was talks of a quadruple but their form has dipped at the worst possible time. Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup by Man Utd and have been eliminated in the Europa League by Atlanta. After falling behind in the title race as well, will the end of Klopp’s reign fall a bit flat?
