Arsenal legend and former AS Monaco manager Thierry Henry has thrown his support behind Jürgen Klopp’s decision to leave Liverpool.
In January, the 56-year-old German tactician announced a decision he had communicated to the Liverpool administration since November 2023. The decision was to leave Liverpool at the end of the ongoing season, despite having a contract that runs out at the end of the 2024/24 season.
The former Borussia Dortmund manager stated that his reason for leaving was that he could not keep doing the job over and over. This insinuated that his nine-year stint had begun to affect his mental wellbeing.
Since then, many theories have reared their heads as to why Klopp, one of the most successful managers in England and the world in the last decade, is choosing to call it quits at a club that has obviously supported him.
A few agreed that it was mentally tasking to lead a top club like Liverpool, especially with your main rivals being the relentless Manchester City led by an equally relentless Pep Guardiola. Others have speculated that pressure from within the club forced the German to take the decision, still for his mental wellbeing.
Henry does not care what the reason is but has supported the German in his decision. “Pep was at Barcelona, took a sabbatical year”, Henry told CBS Sports. “Klopp is at Liverpool, is stopping. Xavi is at Barcelona, he is also stopping. Three great clubs.”
“That’s a dream job normally and they are stopping. That tells you a story. The pressure, everybody has a voice, social media and whatnot. It is tough to be a manager and no one cares about you. You’re going to have to take care of yourself at one point.”
“I understand that it’s very nice for fans and everybody involved, journalists, but do not think only about yourself and thinking that the Premier League will miss Klopp, that Liverpool will miss Klopp.”
“We know that, we know that is true. But he was missing his family, he was missing his own time, he was missing his sanity. So good for him. When I got the news, I was like: ‘Good for you.’”
Following Klopp’s decision, Spurs’ boss Ange Postecoglou also called on clubs to provide support services for managers just as they do for players.
“Our priority is always going to be the team and producing results. I can see why a lot of clubs will say: ‘Let’s just protect our manager and sort of get him to focus on what’s important, build things around him’,” he said.
“You’ll see that more and more, for want of a better term, support services around a manager with the demands of the role. I’ve been doing it for 26 years at different levels but it is becoming even more consuming than you thought it would be than when I first started.”
