Managers who can replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp stunned the football world when he announced he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season recently.

The German is just 56 and has been the most successful Liverpool manager in the last two decades.

Klopp joined the Reds a few months after he walked away from his job at Borussia Dortmund in 2015.

He wanted to take a year off from football, but the chance to replace Brendan Rodgers was simply too good to turn down and he moved to Anfield for what would be a very successful spell.

Manchester United had approached Klopp in 2013 to replace Sir Alex Ferguson, but he turned them down.

Two years later, he joined their biggest rival in England and turned the Reds into a team that United supporters fear.

The reverse was the case when Ferguson was at the helm at United and Klopp made Liverpool the most successful team in England again, in terms of major honours won.

His decision to leave the club at the end of the season is one of the most shocking news around the world at the moment and shows how much influence the German has in the game.

Klopp is a much-loved manager even to rival fans and every football supporter around the world is stunned by his decision to leave Liverpool after nearly a decade.

There are suggestions that there could be some problems behind the scenes at the club, but Klopp has debunked those.

The German insists he has been treated very well by the club’s owners and fans, so there is no need to speculate that things could have gone wrong behind the scenes.

His decision to leave Anfield is purely because he feels the time has come to walk away and it is a decision he has communicated to the owners since November 2023.

Fans will now step up their interest in buying Liverpool tickets from the best marketplace for the rest of the season.

The Reds can end this season on a solid note as they are still in contention for four competitions and are expected to win at least one of them.

Finding a replacement

Time will tell if Klopp will finally win the Europa League, the only competition he is yet to win at the club, or if he will end the term with another Premier League crown.

But Liverpool has to move on and start planning for the next manager for their job. There are so many interesting names that could step into the big shoes of Klopp at the club.

He is leaving a very healthy team behind and any manager who steps into his role will have no complaint about the mindset and quality of the squad the German leaves behind.

However, the Reds have to bring the right man in for the job, otherwise, they will regret it and go a few more years as a struggling club as was the case before Klopp came through the door.

Who are the managers that could step up and replace Klopp? We have covered some names that we believe will fit the role at Anfield.

Zinedine Zidane

Zidane is one of the best free managers on the market now and he might fancy testing himself in the Premier League.

The Frenchman has only worked for Real Madrid in his career and his two spells at the Spanish club have been super successful.

He faced Liverpool in the final of the Champions League in 2018 and defeated the Reds in one of the finest finals we have watched recently.

Zidane won two league titles, three consecutive Champions League crowns, two UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cups.

The Frenchman is a success story as a player and a coach and has been out of a job since he left Madrid in 2019.

If Liverpool wants a manager who knows how to win the big trophies, they need to sign the Frenchman on as their next gaffer to replace Klopp.

Xabi Alonso

Alonso is the obvious favourite to become the next manager of Liverpool as he is doing an amazing job at Bayer Leverkusen.

The former midfielder has transformed the Bundesliga club into a title contender within a year and could win the German top-flight title this year.

Bayer will be the most worried team in Europe after Klopp announced his departure because they know Alonso has close ties to the Reds.

The Spaniard spent five years at Liverpool between 2004 and 2009 before moving to Real Madrid.

He won the Champions League in his first season and the club and remains a club icon for the Red half of Merseyside.

Alonso has said in the past that he dreams about returning to Anfield as the Reds’ manager, but he needs to prove himself first.

If he wins the league in Germany this term, he would have proven himself and we expect him to be ready to become the manager of Liverpool.

Roberto de Zerbi

De Zerbi is another manager that Liverpool fans would be happy to see as the replacement for Klopp.

The Italian has made Brighton one of the strongest clubs in England’s top flight with their free-flowing possession-based attacking football.

Graham Potter built a good foundation at the home of the Seagulls and made life easy for De Zerbi.

However, the Italian has still worked some magic and has drastically improved the Brighton side that he met in the league.

However, he has not exactly tested himself on the European stage and he also has not been successful in a top European club.

This lack of experience in winning a major trophy or competing for one could be a disadvantage, but he can change that if Brighton wins the Europa League this term.

Hansi Flick

Flick had a poor spell as the manager of the Germany national team which has stained his reputation, but the German is a superb club manager.

He won the Champions League with Bayern Munich in 2020 and presided over one of the club’s most dominating spells in recent times.

His Bayern side famously defeated Barcelona 8-2 in the Champions League and they were head and shoulders above every club in Europe during the covid-19 pandemic.

He will certainly regret leaving club management to take over as the manager of the German national team because it has spoilt his reputation.

Liverpool would get a superb manager if they add him to their group as their newest gaffer, but they might be worried about his poor spell as the coach of Germany.

But he remains one of the few options with a proven track record of success in club football.

Julian Nagelsmann

Nagelsmann is working for the German FA as national team manager for Euro 2024, but he will likely want a return to club football as soon as that competition ends.

At 36, he is the youngest manager on the list and probably the most successful young manager in Europe at the moment.

He is prepared for this role because of his fine work as the gaffer of Bayern Munich before he got sacked last year.

He has had a good spell at Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig and Bayern. At the latter club, he won three major honours within two years.

However, his spell in Bavaria did not end well as he was expected to achieve more and Bayern felt he had lost his focus, so they replaced him with Thomas Tuchel.

But he should have learnt from that experience and do a good job if given the chance to manage Liverpool.

These managers are all good enough to manage Liverpool and because the Reds have owners who are patient to build, they will have enough time to find success.