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Former Manchester United captain, Roy Keane, has claimed that he is not surprised that Jurgen Klopp has announced he will leave Liverpool in the summer but he has queried the timing.
It was reported yesterday that the German would stand down as manager of Liverpool football club after eight seasons.
The coach claimed that “we aren’t young rabbits anymore” and that he would not have the required energy to start a ninth season in Merseyside.
The Liverpool Echo report that the Irishman stated, “He’s a character, we’ll miss him – the type of football he’ll play. But I’m not that shocked, the demand on those managers it takes its toll.”
The ITV pundit did question the timing of the announcement, however.
“There was a lot of chat about who might come in, a different challenge for Liverpool now is the timing,” Keane said. “The timing that the manager has made the decision and we’ll see the reaction there will be from this group of players, the timing is slightly different but we know what a brilliant manager Klopp is”.
The Anfield side are still competing on four fronts this season, so it seems a strange choice to announce such a momentous change for the club bang in the middle of it all.
The United legend also compared Klopp’s announcement to when Sir Alex Ferguson announced his original decision to retire in 2002, which he thankfully had second thoughts about.
“The timing is different,” added Keane. “The manager back at United did it at the start of the season and we were on the back of winning three titles in a row maybe that was some sort of dip. Subconsciously I thought it would’ve affected the dressing room at the time, we had experienced players, we thought we’d get on with it then he made the decision that he was coming back, we kind of just rolled with it.”
What is clear is that the former Borussia Dortmund coach will leave a massive hole at Liverpool and now they have the unenviable task of trying to replace him.
Manchester United fans know better than most the difference a top class manager can make.
The likes of Xabi Alonso and Roberto Di Zerbi have been linked to the soon-to-be vacant role but whoever takes on the role will have a mountain to climb to live up to the controversial German.
