Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is being lined up for a sensational return to Borussia Dortmund as ‘head of football’ in 2025, according to a report.
Klopp announced in January he would be standing down at Anfield at the end of the 2023/24 season having informed the board of his decision two months prior, citing tiredness as one of the main contributing factors.
The Independent report there is ‘talk’ of Klopp heading back to Dortmund in a new capacity next summer, potentially returning as their ‘head of football’.
Klopp managed Dortmund for seven years between 2008 and 2015, winning two Bundesliga titles, leading them to a Champions League final and turning them back into the European heavyweights they are today.
Now under the management of Edin Terzic, Dortmund have reached this season’s Champions League semi-finals – the first time they have reached this stage since Klopp took them to the 2013 final.
As part of his announcement earlier this year, Klopp confirmed he would step away from management for a year and might only return to football in a different role, while he would not coach again in England out of respect to Liverpool.
“I need to find a different purpose as well, I need to have a look for it. 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,” Klopp said in January.
“What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool, 100%. 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. That’s all. It’s such a strange situation because I have to explain that I don’t have energy anymore, but now I’m sitting here and I have energy and I’m buzzing for everything that’s happening here.
“But because of the relationship we have, I have to think about this. Because nobody will sack me, I have to make this decision by myself. The responsibility I have for everything here tells me I’m not the right one for the future, so I have to tell. It’s completely strange.
“At one point the new stand will be completely full. So many wonderful things happened in the time since I’m here, it’s just amazing and I love all that but I will follow that, I will be part of it, I will support it, but not in the main chair anymore from a specific point on.”