For the second time in nine years, Jurgen Klopp is embarking on a voyage into the unknown. A man who came to define Liverpool perhaps more than any individual since Bill Shankly had an uncertain grasp of his new club in 2015. “Because in the beginning, what did we really know?” Klopp asked. “It is not that we can lie. Some may have watched more Liverpool games than I did. In the 15 years before I arrived here I watched loads of football, but did I watch a lot of Liverpool? No. The Liverpool I knew was when I was rather younger and you did not have a lot of footage. There was a show called Euro Goals – maybe you didn’t have it here – on a Monday night. They would show all the goals from Europe – England, France – but it was just goals. You couldn’t get anything else.”
Now it is time for something else new. For Klopp, anyway. At his unveiling, the German pronounced himself “the normal one”. On the day he announced his departure, he admitted he does not know what normal is any more. Now he is staring at a different life, to see what it means. “I need to have a look on the other side,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it. No real plans. At the Euros we will watch games and have tickets for a few games. Being in Germany for a long time, meeting friends, nothing spectacular. That’s exactly what I wanted to do, being flexible. Be spontaneous, that will be a challenge.”
