Jurgen Klopp will go down in Liverpool’s history as their greatest manager since Bill Shankly.
He built a Ferrari of a team on the pitch - and there’s no point in having a Ferrari if you are going to drive it like a Fiat Punto. Klopp drove his team like a Ferrari.
For me, the timing of his announcement is a bit strange, but after nine years in which he restored Liverpool to greatness on the pitch, who am I to question Klopp going out on his own terms?
Right now, they are in the running to win four trophies - Premier League title, Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup - and I think he will bow out with at least one of those pots as a parting gift.
To announce he is stepping down with Liverpool above Manchester City in the title race, after everything City have thrown at them in the last decade, is remarkable. And when history judges Klopp’s achievements, he will be up there with the great managers of the Premier League era.
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As a city, Liverpool has thrived for more than 60 years on its Beatles culture - but there were only four of them in the Fab Four. At Anfield, they have enjoyed at least six great managers in the last 50 years: Shankly, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan from the Boot Room dynasty, Kenny Dalglish won the Double and Rafa Benitez won the Champions League before Klopp’s reign.
But none of Klopp’s predecessors brought the same energy, passion and emotion to the dugout. Shankly was the Kop godfather who built the club and Paisley won the European Cup three times in five seasons.
If they are untouchables among Liverpool’s finest managers, Klopp belongs in the same category because he brought great players to the club and moulded them into a great team - Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk, and Alisson among them.
Klopp could one day get his own statue outside Anfield like Liverpool Godfather Bill Shankly (Getty Images)In an industry where recruitment is key, Klopp and sporting director Michael Edwards formed a brilliant partnership in the market like Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill at Manchester United. And Klopp didn’t just build one great team at Anfield - he built two.
After the heavy metal, high-tempo, relentless side who won the Champions League in 2019 and ran away with the title 12 months later, he has rebuilt two departments of his side in little more than a year and turned them into front-runners.
Where Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane formed the best front three in Europe until a couple of seasons ago, now Klopp has Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Salah with Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo for back-up.
Where he had Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Thiago in midfield, now he has Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch. And the squad is underpinned by a crop of exciting home-grown talent - Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah, Curtis Jones, Bobby Clark.
Whoever replaces Klopp, and Xabi Alonso’s success at Bayer Leverkusen makes him an obvious target in my eyes, will inherit a fantastic squad. They will be in a position to challenge for trophies instead of United’s decline after Fergie’s retirement 11 years ago.
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If the last four months of the season are going to be a farewell tour for Klopp, it’s important that they send him into the sunset with silverware. Winning next month's League Cup final against Chelsea next season would be a good start.
But when he goes, he will leave behind a fantastic highlights reel of unforgettable memories - the miracle comeback against Barcelona, the 7-0 demolition of United, the 44-match unbeaten run, the Champions League triumph in Madrid.
On Shankly’s statue outside Anfield, it bears the inscription: He made the people happy. One day, a similar tribute to Jurgen Klopp would be appropriate.
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