At least one German has had a good World Cup. Jurgen Klopp has bought a Stetson and walked down a Texas street in the manner of a cowboy, with Thomas Muller. He has celebrated his 59th birthday, serenaded by, among others, Thomas Muller. He has started a bromance with Thomas Muller. And he is set to get a new job, seemingly without Thomas Muller.
Admittedly, it has not all been positive. Klopp had to apologise to Julian Nagelsmann for saying the younger man was the Germany manager “for now”, the phrase sounding worse when uttered by his likeliest replacement. Although the inference was correct and now Nagelsmann isn’t Germany manager any more. Even the wunderkind of German coaching, who greeted an exit to Paraguay with a delusional statement of his determination to continue, may have recognised a reality. He was pursued around the United States by his successor in waiting. Klopp is already entering into talks about taking over.
Which should be a formality. Technically, Klopp still has a job, as Red Bull’s Global Head of Soccer. It did not preclude him from taking a few weeks off to buddy up with Muller for a punditry double act who, from a distance, appear to have had enormous fun and may have been the best of this World Cup. Klopp, with his sense of humour, quotability and habit of playing to the camera, sprung to greater prominence in Germany as a World Cup pundit: back in 2006.
Now, perhaps, the aim is to manage his country in the 2030 tournament. Germany has the feel of one last job, the only one Klopp wants. His camp were quick to distance themselves from Real Madrid when the presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme said he was his first choice as their next coach. When he left Liverpool, he said he would not manage anyone else in England. He rejected Bayern Munich time and again and has never seemed tempted to go back to Borussia Dortmund.
Seeing Klopp two years ago, when he stunned Anfield with his resignation, came with the sense he would only return to the dugout with Germany. He shouldered a huge burden at Liverpool, realising he could not delegate that much – in part, perhaps, because no one else has his presence and force of personality – and was worn down. International management can seem a form of semi-retirement; Klopp, meanwhile, built his dream house in Wiesbaden, which is convenient for the German FA’s headquarters in Frankfurt.
Klopp has spent the last couple of years playing padel, joining Instagram, travelling the world and being in a senior role as the Red Bull group have sacked a series of coaches, some of whom, like Ole Werner at Leipzig, had done well. It is a reason his popularity has dipped in Germany; joining the much-disliked corporate giant makes it harder to be the people’s champion. That said, ‘the trivago guy’ retains a commercial appeal to sponsors.
But Klopp still possesses the capacity to make people feel good about themselves and their team; arguably the German public and players both require that after their bleakest decade on the field since the breakthrough win in the 1954 World Cup.
The task may feel familiar: to turn doubters into believers once again, to forge a group of mentality monsters who never know when they are beaten. Against Paraguay, as in too many recent tournaments, Germany could have done with some of the dramatic late goals that became a Klopp hallmark at Anfield.
Whereas Nagelsmann could talk himself into trouble, Klopp is the great communicator. Part of that entails persuading the German public who, though Euro 2024 had its restorative qualities, fell out of love with the national team at times over five, largely disappointing and sometimes disastrous tournaments.
Klopp’s charisma may be required again. But there is wisdom behind the wisecracks. A serious thinker took over both Dortmund and Liverpool, when they were at relatively low ebbs, and rebuilt them. Now Germany seem in need of Das Re-reboot; or, maybe, for those who want to go back to basics, Das Boot.
There is talent, but not the recent track record of achievement. There are some fine players, but perhaps not with the belief Klopp can instil. There are questions if Klopp’s beloved gegenpressing can work in international football, or if he can coach it with less time on the training ground. He may at least have an old ally available to assist him: not his new friend Muller, but Pep Lijnders, who is leaving Manchester City. Klopp will be both familiar and a stranger to the Nationalelf; since leaving Dortmund in 2015, he has barely coached German players.
One interpretation of his decision to leave Liverpool was that it was a recognition he would never scale the heights of 2019 and 2020 again. Yet Champions League winners are looking for a different kind of success in the World Cup. Klopp has had much to show for his tournament – Alexis Mac Allister’s shirt, a reunion with Virgil van Dijk, now the one job he seemed to covet – but in four years, maybe he will get the ultimate prize. If Jurgen Klopp’s next objective is to revive the German national team, his last could be to conquer the world.
