Liverpool Coach Jurgen Klopp’s Approaching Departure Unsettling Players
At the end of January, Jürgen Klopp announced his departure at the end of the season after nine years at Liverpool. A scenario that took his players some time to digest, like Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and his team-mates initially thought it was a joke. This Sunday, on the sidelines of the 2-1 victory over Brighton, the Liverpool right-back spoke about the announcement of Jürgen Klopp’s departure, revealed at the end of January. According to the England international, the news “shook the Liverpool squad for hours”.
“It was a normal day. Then Klopp called a meeting at 10.30am, something we’d never done before. Everyone wondered what was going on,” he recounted, alongside former Liverpool player and now consultant Jamie Carragher, and in the presence of a journalist from The Athletic.
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“He told us this was to be his last season, that he needed a break to spend time with his family. I didn’t know what to do. We’re wondering if it’s a joke. Nobody expected it ,” added Alexander-Arnold.
“After we left the room, everyone thought, ‘Did this really just happen? Now you have to deal with it, go to training in an hour, do your job” , recalled the Englishman, who has always known Klopp at the helm of the Reds. Leading the Premier League with nine games remaining, Liverpool are also involved in the Europa League quarter-finals (against Atalanta). A potential grand finale for Klopp after nine years in charge.
