Borussia Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp has said that will leave at the end of the season as he “no longer feels he is the perfect coach for the club”.
Klopp won back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012, and led to the Champions League final in 2013, but he confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that he had asked for his contract to be terminated but insisted that he is not tired and that he is not planning on having a sabbatical.
In a very emotional press conference, with Klopp, the Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke, and the club’s sporting director, Michael Zorc, Klopp denied that he was quitting because of the poor results this season but rather because he felt that both club and he needed to move on.
After Watzke had started by saying that this press conference was something they at the club had wished they would never have to do, Klopp said:
“First of all, no one has to thank me. Both [me and the club] have given a lot and we have received a lot. But I have always said that the day I feel that I am no longer the perfect coach for this extraordinary club I will say that.
“That is something I have thought about in every phase here at Dortmund and decided in the last few weeks, days, that I was no longer able to be absolutely sure about that. And then, because of the unusual relationship I have with this club, the trust we have for each other, it was my duty to tell the club.”
Klopp added that he was not suffering from exhaustion and that he would now use the rest of the season to ensure that Borussia finish as high up in the table as possible. They are currently 10th.
“I am not tired. I may look tired but I am not. I am 0.0% tired. I haven’t had any contact with any other clubs but am not planning a sabbatical. I haven’t planned any of this [to quit] but it was just right that we announced this today so that the club can plan ahead.
“I will miss every single person here and that feeling will only grow with time.”
This has been a really tough season for Dortmund who are 10th in the Bundesliga, six points out of the Europa League qualification places. They were eliminated from the Champions League this term in the round of 16 by Juventus.
Since those back-to-back title winning years Klopp has seem his two of his best players, Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski leave the club for rivals Bayern Munich.
Dortmund will never be able to compete with the wealth of Bayern, and Klopp realizes that and is ready for a new challenge.
The big question is where will that be? Will Klopp go for a big name club like AC Milan or Manchester City, or will he go for an more unfashionable club like West Ham? Or will someone like Arsenal or Liverpool take this opportunity to hire one of the top managers in Europe?
Where do you think Jurgen Klopp will be managing next season?
