Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has admitted he is ‘dreading’ the departure of long-serving boss Jurgen Klopp this summer – and revealed how players are hoping to give him an ’emotional’ send-off.
The German shocked the footballing world with the surprise news that he would end his nine-year spell at Anfield at the end of the 2023-24 season, after claiming he needed a break from the game.
Klopp is aiming to finish his reign with a possible treble – having already won the Carabao Cup in February. His side are top of the Premier League with nine games remaining, while they are still in the hunt for the Europa League.
Van Dijk has been one of Klopp’s key players since signing him from Southampton for around £75million in 2018, with the pair winning eight trophies together, and he said the day his boss departed would be ‘tough’ to take.
‘Very difficult,’ he told ITV News. ‘I’m a very emotional person and I don’t like to say goodbyes. Being the captain now, it’s gonna be horrible in the sense you probably have to speak a little bit. And like I say that day I’ll be dreading.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has admitted he is ‘dreading’ Jurgen Klopp leaving the club
The Dutchman said he was bracing for a ‘tough day’ as Klopp prepares to end his nine-year reign at Anfield at the end of the season
‘It makes it a lot easier if we have success. So that’s the aim at the moment. But it’s difficult and it’s not only the boss who is leaving, it’s going to be a lot of changes and more staff leaving, but it will be a tough day. Until the day that we’ll fight and be positive and put all of our focus and effort in that and make the season successful.’
Van Dijk explained how the Liverpool players plan to make his exit ’emotional’ by winning as many trophies as possible and said his impending departure only motivated them more to achieve that.
‘I think we already so much motivated to make this season a success,’ he added.
‘We know at the end of the season will be emotional. But we can make it emotional in a good way by winning trophies. That’s the we want to do it for ourselves.
Van Dijk hailed the German’s legacy at Liverpool having won eight trophies together
‘We want to do for the boss. We want to do for the football club around the world. The fans around the world I mean yeah, we all we all work so hard each and every day. Eventually, to win silverware, that’s what we’re gonna try and do.’
When asked what kind of legacy Klopp left behind, Van Dijk added: ‘It’s pretty clear that he’s been a monumental figure for the club for so many years.
‘If you think about Liverpool you think about Jurgen Klopp, so he’s been very important for the fans who are very important, getting me to the football club and telling me I’m a very important piece of the puzzle. He deserves all the applause that he will get.’
Klopp’s initial reveal he was leaving in Janaury caught many by surprise as he announced he was ‘running out of energy’ after many high-octane years managing at the very top of the game.
Klopp has shocked football in January by claiming he was leaving the club after ‘running out of energy’
‘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.
Klopp said he had informed the club of his decision to step down in November – and that he revealed it while discussing transfer targets for next summer.
‘When we sat there together talking about potential signings, the next summer camp and can we go wherever, the thought came up, “I am not sure I am here then anymore” and I was surprised myself by that,’ he said.
