Jurgen Klopp resembles a ‘very tired and burned out man’ with the toll of nine years managing Liverpool ‘leaving him a choice between his health or his job,’ according to a body language expert.
The German, 56, stunned the world of football by announcing he will leave Anfield at the end of the season in a video released on Friday morning.
Klopp admitted he was ‘running out of energy’ and said he ‘cannot do the job again and again and again and again’ as he rebuilds his team into a force once more.
Darren Stanton, a leading body language expert, said: ‘Klopp looks like a very tired and burned out man.
‘His voice was lower in tone, volume and pitch, which shows someone that is tired, not just physically, but mentally.
Jurgen Klopp stunned the football world on Friday morning by announcing he would be stepping down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season
A body language expert has suggested Klopp looked a ‘very tired and burned out’ man
Darren Stanton noticed how Klopp’s voice was lower in tone and volume than usual
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‘It will take him many months for him to re-find his strength and his time at Liverpool has taken its toll on him.
‘It’s come to a point where he has to decide between his health or his job.’
Stanton believes the way Klopp presented himself on the video interview released by Liverpool’s social media channels showed a man who’d reluctantly realised his time at the club was drawing to a close.
‘There were no signs that he was under any external pressure, so his body language tells me that the decision is entirely his,’ Stanton told MegaDice.com.
‘Klopp’s non-verbal communication was in line with what he was saying, which tells us everything that Klopp said was the truth.
‘The sad micro-expressions we see on his face, head-bowed and mouth-dropped, are all consistent with what he is saying.
‘It’s a combination of real sadness and disappointment that he has no other option to leave.
‘He strokes his own legs a lot, which is a gesture of self-reassurance, like giving himself a hug to say ‘this is the right thing to do’.
‘He showed a lot of courage to present himself in the open during the video, showing his full body and not sat behind a desk or something – this shows there is a lot of honesty in what he says.’
Klopp suggested in his comments he may quit management altogether but Stanton suggests he will return after a break from football.
Klopp grips the side of his chair while breaking the news of his departure from Liverpool
Klopp has turned Liverpool into a European powerhouse over the last decade, winning seven trophies – including the Champions League in 2019
He added: ‘I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of him in management and he may well be back after a year away from the game, from what I can see from his current body language and observing him recently.
Body language expert Darren Stanton analysed Klopp’s bombshell interview
‘He’s too emotional and he can’t turn off his feelings towards football, he won’t be able to keep his head down for too long.’
In the bombshell interview, the 56-year-old German boss claimed he is ‘running out of energy’ after winning the Premier League, Champions League, the FA Cup and Carabao Cup across nine years at Anfield – and hinted that he may never manage in football ever again.
‘I will leave the club at the end of the season,’ he said. ‘I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time, but obviously I can explain it – or at least try to explain it.
‘It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now.
‘I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.’