Jurgen Klopp press conference LIVE: Liverpool manager addresses shock departure

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher hopes Jurgen Klopp can “go out with a bang” after the German manager announced he will leave the club at the end of the season.

The 56-year-old has admitted he is “running out of energy” having led the club to six major trophies since taking charge in October 2015.

Carragher, who made 737 appearances for the Reds, posted on X, formerly Twitter: “This news was always going to be a body blow to the club whenever it came.

“I just thought it would be another few years away. What a manager, what a man, let’s go out with a bang Jurgen!”

Liverpool will begin the search for a replacement manager immediately, but have issued a clear notice that work will be done behind the scenes with no public updates, to avoid distracting the team as they challenge for major honours this season.

Jurgen Klopp earlier announced he would be stepping down as head coach at the end of the current campaign, two years before his contract is due to expire.

Shortly afterwards, it was confirmed that Jorg Schmadtke would also be leaving his role as sporting director, having only been appointed on a short-term deal in June, leaving a big turnover of senior staff for the Reds this summer.

Klopp’s managerial career began at Mainz in 2001, shortly after he retired from playing for the club – which sat in the 2 Bundesliga at the time.

In 2003/04, Klopp secured promotion with Mainz, and he would later move to Borussia Dortmund in 2008/09. There, in a seven-year spell, he won the Bundesliga twice (2011, 2012) and the Pokal once (2012).

Klopp also won the German Super Cup with Dortmund twice (2013, 2014).

Furthermore, Klopp led Dortmund to runners-up finishes in the Champions League in 2013 and the Pokal in 2014 and 2015.

Klopp also said this, today: “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, 100 per cent. That’s not possible. My love for this club, my respect for the people is too big. I couldn’t. I couldn’t for a second think about it. There’s no chance.

“This is part of my life, we are part of the family, we feel home here. There’s no chance to do that. 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.”

Klopp joined Liverpool in October 2015, replacing Brendan Rodgers, having left Borussia Dortmund a few months earlier.

After steadily building his own squad, his first trophy with the Reds came in 2019, when they won the Champions League with a victory over Tottenham. Later that year, Klopp guided Liverpool to the Super Cup and Club World Cup.

A season later, the German helped to end the club’s 30-year wait for a Premier League title.

In 2021/2022, Klopp and Liverpool achieved a domestic-cup double, beating Chelsea on penalties in both the FA and Carabao Cup finals.

Later that year, they also won the Community Shield.

Jurgen Klopp has explained his decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, saying:

“It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.”

When pressed on those comments, the German said: “I am OK. I am healthy, as much as you can [be] at my age. Little bits and bobs, stuff like that, but nothing anybody has to be concerned about, so that’s absolutely fine.”

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Liverpool have announced that Jurgen Klopp is to resign as manager and depart the club at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

The German boss arrived at Anfield in 2015 and has reestablished the club as a domestic and European force, reaching three Champions League finals since then - winning one - as well as winning the Premier League title in 2020.

His departure is all the more unexpected as he embarked on a rebuild of the playing squad over the summer, with Liverpool currently sat top of the league table, into the Carabao Cup final and potentially on course for a four-trophy tilt as they continue in the Europa League and FA Cup as well.

Liverpool great

Klopp could finish with the highest win percentage of any manager in Liverpool’s history and still has the chance to climb from fourth place in terms of trophies won with the club.

As of the announcement of the German’s imminent departure he has won 60.7 per cent of matches, trailing only Sir Kenny Dalglish’s 60.9 per cent across two spells and narrowly ahead of the club’s formative managerial partnership William Edward Barclay and John McKenna who won 60.6 per cent from 1892 to 1896.

Only Bob Paisley, with 20 trophies including six league titles, Bill Shankly (11) and Dalglish (nine) rank ahead of Klopp’s trophy count with the club.

With Liverpool still competing on four fronts this season – top of the league and in another Carabao Cup final, as well as the Europa League knockout stages and this Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round clash with Norwich – he has the opportunity to match or pass Dalglish and even potentially catch Shankly with a perfect finish to the season.

Trophy cabinet

That league title and the 2018-19 Champions League stand out as the highlights of Klopp’s Anfield reign but success has come in all competitions.

Victory over Tottenham in Madrid, following a spectacular semi-final fightback against Barcelona, brought his first trophy with the club and the following season saw Liverpool win the UEFA Super Cup, the Club World Cup and then the Premier League.

A domestic cup double in 2021-22, winning both finals in penalty shoot-outs against Chelsea, allowed them to add the 2022 Community Shield.

An eighth different trophy could come in this season’s Europa League, a competition in which Liverpool lost the 2015-16 final to Sevilla at the end of Klopp’s debut season.