Jurgen Klopp: Borussia Dortmund coach will likely be the one conducting interviews... not the other way around

COMMENT

Jürgen Klopp is adored by Dortmund fans

It may seem odd that a coach whose team lie mid-table in the Bundesliga and were facing relegation at Christmas is the most wanted in Europe, but in the previous six seasons at the Westfalenstadion Jurgen Klopp forged a glittering reputation.

It is not just the success - two Bundesliga titles despite Bayern Munich’s financial superiority, and the 2013 Champions League final, but the thrilling way his team plays, and the bond he built with supporters.

Ebullient, quotable, hyper-active, Klopp attracts attention, but not of the sort which alienates people and damages a club’s reputation despite his regular outbursts against fourth officials. Instead such antics as asking his players to train on a park (as he did at Hyde Park before they played Arsenal) or serve pints to fans at Christmas, have made him admired even by fans of opponents.

The 47-year-old God-fearing German has styled himself as a footballing ‘Robin Hood’ when taking on Bayern Munich at home and Real Madrid in Europe. It is an apt analogy given his team’s swashbuckling play though Dortmund, watched by the biggest crowds in Europe, are hardly paupers.

Beloved of football hipsters everywhere, and commercial advertisers in his native country, Klopp was born in Stuttgart but spent his entire playing career in Bundesliga 2 with Mainz 05. A striker who converted to defence he made little impact on the pitch.

Management, however, proved different. In 2001 he quit playing to coach at Mainz taking them into the Bundesliga, and back down again three years later. After seven seasons he moved on to Dortmund, a former European Cup winner which had flirted with bankruptcy and, though solvent again, seemed mired in mid-table.

Klopp was hired with the remit to produce a youthful, exciting team. He cautioned his new employers it would take time. In his third season Dortmund won the title. In the fourth they won the double, in the fifth they reached the Champions League final.

There, however, Die Schwarzgelben ran up against Bayern Munich who have proved Klopp’s nemesis, weakening Dortmund and strengthening themselves by luring Klopp’s stars away. Injuries have also been a problem, especially debilitating given Dortmund’s preference for a high-octane pressing game with swift counter-attacking.

So Klopp is now on the market. When it comes to his new appointment he is as likely to be doing the interviewing as be interviewed for Klopp knows his own mind and methods.

His first demand will not be money but time, time to forge a team in his image. Given time he will transform a club, but as he moves from Dortmund to the top tier of the European elite he will know time is the least available commodity of all.