The latest line of questioning for Jürgen Klopp after his exit announcement concerns the squad he built over a period of nine years.
While most of his core have exited the club, Alisson Becker, Joel Matip, Virgil Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold still remain. These are in addition to the likes of Ibrahima Konaté and a few others who joined the club in the last three years because of the manager.
A fear among the club’s fans and Liverpool-based journalists is that these players, who are very loyal to Klopp, could seek to exit the club along with their manager. A recent statement from Virgil Van Dijk, the club’s current captain, has given credence to this line of thought.
Van Dijk said in a recent interview: “The club will have a big job on their hands, that is well known.”
“To replace not only the manager but the whole staff, there are so many things that will change. I’m very curious which direction that will go in but when that will be announced we will see our situation. I can’t say much about it. It will be the end of Klopp’s era and I am still part of it.”
“That’s why I don’t like to talk about it. That is my main focus. We will see at the end of the season, hopefully we will have the success we all dream of and by then probably there will be more clarification about what the club wants for the future and then we will see.”
The captain has since defended his statements as being misconstrued and now, Klopp has had to answer questions on the future of the club he will not be a part of.
“No. I don’t think [the squad breaks up]”, Klopp’s answer began. “It’s completely normal. That was always clear when we spoke about [Van Dijk leaving] and I said what I had to say.”
“Then it was always clear that the outside world will not give you a second to process it [or] to think about it.”
“Nobody has to worry. And, by the way, that’s why I say this team, the majority of everything, is exactly like it is. But if you want to find somebody who is not safe now and has a contract [until] 2025 you will find it. I knew that will happen because you can’t wait with these kind of questions.”
“Virgil didn’t go out and say, ‘By the way what I want to say…’ so it’s always about the questions. We always need to answer and these kind of things. Write what you want, this club is stable 100 per cent. Everything will be fine, I’m 100 per cent sure. The rest, we have to get through this, we have to get through your questions. We have to give some answers and that’s how it is. Our people, I would recommend to stay calm in this department, massively.”
