Jürgen Klopp’s Agent Opens up on Contract Talks and Liverpool Future

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The manager won’t sign a new deal unless he’s sure he has the energy to manage past 2022 without a break.

Liverpool would like Jürgen Klopp to stick around past the 2021-22 season. That’s hardly a secret. Neither is the manager’s reluctance to commit to longer than seven years, knowing as he does that eventually he needs a break from football for his own well being.

Today, we can add the words of Klopp’s agent, Marc Kosicke, who spoke to Germany’s Spox about his star client this week, confirming both hardly a secrets while perhaps also adding a few small details to the mix for fans concerned about three summer from now.

“Jurgen’s contract is still valid until 2022 and it is an open secret that the club would like to extend so we still have a little time for that,” Kosike noted, before joking that climate change could improve the odds of Klopp staying if it leads to a warmer winter fixture run.

“I remember that in November or December,” he continued, “when Liverpool first asked for a contract extension. I said, ‘Let’s wait,’ Ulla [Klopp’s wife] and Jurgen get up in the morning and it’s dark. When they meet again in the evening, it is also dark and there is drizzle.

“During the winter break in Germany, if the weather is really bad, the clubs go on vacation for two weeks, then come back and fly directly to the training camp in the sun for several days. During this time, coaches in England are already exhausted and it’s not so easy.”

While Klopp in the past has talked about knowing that, sooner or later, a time will come when he will need time away from the game for his own mental and physical health, this is the first time we’ve heard that it might be more draining to work in England than Germany.

Perhaps, though, the club can find a way to swing a few more trips to Marbella over the coming winters. And in that light, a trip to Qatar—where Klopp has taken the players before for mid-season training—for the Club World Cup could actually be a good thing.

Either way, though, the message amounts to more of the same: Klopp will be at Liverpool until 2022 at the very least, and whether he stays on for longer will depend on his energy levels during that final year in what is an undeniably demanding, draining job.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com