Jurgen Klopp will go on to manage Bayern Munich or Germany after stepping down as Liverpool manager, according to one expert.
Klopp made the shock announcement on Friday that he would be quitting as Reds boss at the end of the season, having been in charge at Anfield since October 2015.
And, unsurprisingly, speculation is already rife as to where the grinning German will end up next.
Matthias Brugelmann, a journalist for major German outlet BILD (via the Liverpool Echo), thinks he knows, writing: "Almost every fan in the world would like to have this coach, this guy, this Klopp for their team. What an ambassador; what a face of our country!
"Will we see him again in Germany? I do believe that the 56-year-old will one day become a national or Bayern coach. With the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, the 2028 European Championship in [the UK] and Ireland, and the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, there are three tournaments in football-crazy countries. That should appeal to him before [the Saudi Pro League in] Saudi Arabia...
"There was regular contact between Bayern and Klopp [in the past], but the timing was always bad. [Thomas] Tuchel's contract term until 2025 fits worryingly well with [Klopp's] planned break..."
Were to Klopp to take over at Bayern, he would follow in Tuchel's footsteps: both men have previously managed the Bavarian giants' arch-rivals, Borussia Dortmund – who Klopp left shortly before being appointed Liverpool boss.
As for the German national team, they are currently on their third permanent manager in less than three years, having sacked 2014 World Cup winner Joachim Low's successor, Hansi Flick, last September and brought in former Bayern and RB Leipzig boss Julian Nagelsmann.
More from FourFourTwo
KLOPP QUITS LIVERPOOL Virgil van Dijk says decision 'hard to take'
