Jurgen Klopp has not exactly been keeping a low profile since leaving Liverpool. The German has become a social media sensation and a self-confessed ‘Swiftie’, having attended The Eras Tour at Anfield — and he’s now had his say after one of his former roles was filled.
A legend at all of his previous clubs, Klopp was in charge at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund before taking over at Liverpool. And while he was being replaced at Anfield, there was a changing of the guard going on at the Westfalenstadion as well.
Despite reaching the Champions League final, Edin Terzic and Borussia Dortmund have parted ways. In his place, former Liverpool loanee Nuri Sahin has been appointed, having been parachuted in as an assistant last season.
The loan to Liverpool, then managed by Brendan Rodgers, failed to showcase Sahin’s best qualities. But Klopp worked with him at Borussia Dortmund, where the Turkish midfielder enjoyed the best period of his career.
Still just 35, Sahin only hung up his boots in 2021, immediately taking up the role of head coach at his final destination as a player, Antalyaspor. It was from there that Borussia Dortmund poached him, perhaps always with an eye on naming him manager in due course, with Terzic on thin ice at the time.
A brave appointment by Borussia Dortmund, it has prompted a reaction from Klopp. He is backing his former charge for success in the beloved role he once occupied. “At 35, Nuri is a very young coach, but so was I,” said Klopp, via BILD. “I definitely believe that after his outstanding career as a player, he will also become a super coach. Of course, I wish him the greatest success at BVB.”
Much like Sahin, Klopp went straight from playing into management at the club where his playing days ended, taking over at Mainz in his mid-30s. That worked out pretty well, and Dortmund will be hoping for a repeat.
Liverpool.com says: All the best to Sahin in his new role! He certainly came to Liverpool at the wrong time and under the wrong manager, but still showed flashes of what he might have been able to achieve at Anfield under different circumstances.
No doubt that experience helped to shape him, but the years under Klopp will surely be his most useful guide as he steps into the world of elite-level management. He should also take inspiration from another former Liverpool midfielder, after Xabi Alonso succeeded in shaking up the Bundesliga hierarchy.