Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp sent shockwaves around the football world when he announced that he would leave the club at the end of the current Premier League season. After nine years in charge of the Reds, Klopp will finally bid an emotional farewell as Liverpool takes on Wolves at Anfield.
Klopp cited a lack of energy as the principle reason for his departure from Anfield. While it was an unexpected announcement back in January, it was one that many understand after the untold pressure of managing a club of Liverpool's magnitude.
Klopp is set for a year's sabbatical, and is uncertain what the future holds. In his press conference ahead of Liverpool's FA Cup clash against Norwich earlier this year, Klopp outlined: "Whatever will happen in the future I don’t know now, but no club, no country, for the next year, and no other English club ever."
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By leaving Liverpool, Klopp will also be leaving behind a huge salary, which made him one of the highest-paid managers in world football. Some of those figures were laid bare when he was linked with the Germany national team job, and the German FA publicly admitted it would be hard to match the figures he currently earns.
“The DFB can’t pay Jürgen Klopp at all, he earns a fixed €24m ($26m/£21m) a year, plus €26m ($28m/£22m) guaranteed advertising income — so €50m ($54m/£43m),” the German FA's Ralph-Uwe Schaffert said in a recent interview (via Focus).
“The next national coach will no longer get what Hansi Flick got — because the DFB can no longer afford it,” Schaffert continued. “You hardly have a Bundesliga coach who earns less than a million. It’s all gone so crazy that it’s almost impossible to reduce it.”
Alongside his massive salary, Klopp has had a host of sponsorship deals to top up his income. He's now sponsored by Adidas after previous deals with Puma and New Balance. He's also the face of German car company Opel, beer giants Erdinger and two financial institutions, VR-Bank and Deutsche Vermogensberatung.
He signed his last Liverpool contract in April 2022, a two-year extension which was supposed to keep him at Anfield until the summer of 2026. However, he will now leave early to take a hard-earned break with plenty of financial power to enjoy his sabbatical.
It's reported that only Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone earn more than Klopp. His successor, Arne Slot, will almost certainly earn far less.
*This article was originally published on January 27. It has since been updated.
