Liverpool FC's manager Jürgen Klopp has announced his decision to step away from the club at the end of the 2023-2024 season.
It would mark the end of his 8.5-year tenure at the club.
In a video uploaded to the club's social media, the beloved German coach said he was "running out of energy".
"I can understand that that’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time," he said.
"I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything. But that I still take this decision shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take."
Watch or read our emotional interview with Jürgen Klopp in full as he discusses today’s news in detail and explains the reasons for his decision.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 26, 2024
Klopp clarified in an extended interview published on Liverpool's website that he was healthy — "as much as you can [be] at my age”.
"In an ideal world I wouldn’t have said anything to anybody until the end of the season, win everything and then say goodbye. That’s not possible.
...one thing I am really convinced of [is] if you have to make a decision like that, it is better you do it slightly early than slightly too late. Too late would have been absolutely the worst thing to happen [if], I don’t know, next season in September I realised, ‘Oh my God, that’s it – I cannot do it anymore’ and then we are in the middle of a season and everything."
An illustrious career
The 56-year-old will leave the club as its most successful coach of the Premier League era.
He will perhaps be best known for ending Liverpool's English league title drought, leading the team to the championship in the 2019-2020 season.
Fans will also remember Klopp's Liverpool thrashing their bitter rivals Manchester United 7-0 in the 2022-2023 season.
Other than the Premier League, Klopp has also won the UEFA Champions League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, European Super Cup, Club World Cup with Liverpool.
Prior to his time with the English club, he had tenures at German sides 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Borussia Dortmund.
When asked for his message to Liverpool fans, Klopp asked that they don't make the remaining games of the season about him.
"The only thing I always wanted was the full support for the team, it’s not for me," he said.
"We are Liverpool, we went through harder things together. And you went through harder things before me. Let’s make a strength of it. That would be really cool. Let’s squeeze everything out of this season and have another thing to smile about when we look back in the future."
Top image from Liverpool FC's X