National soccer team: Yes, I want: “Refueled” Klopp makes clear announcements

Not far from the dream wedding of US pop star Taylor Swift and football professional Travis Kelce Jurgen Klopp in New York on a roof terrace and announced his commitment to the national coaching job. Yes, I want! “I’m more than recharged now, so I’m ready,” said the 59-year-old in an interview on MagentaTV, for which he continues to follow and comment on the World Cup as an expert even after the German tournament exit. Klopp stood there tanned. The white teeth flashed. Someone has the bite.

No detailed negotiations have yet been held with the DFB leadership around President Bernd Neuendorf and DFB deputy and Klopp intimate Hans-Joachim Watzke. The duo wants to fly to the USA to meet their preferred candidate as soon as possible. There was no new water level on Sunday evening, as Klopp himself reported to presenter Johannes B. Kerner on MagentaTV: “No, nothing to report. As soon as there is something, you will be the first to know.”

Klopp’s contract as Head of Global Soccer with the beverage company Red Bull has not yet been terminated. And yet, a good week after the DFB team’s next World Cup flop, everything seems to be heading inexorably towards Klopp.

«Fortunately Julian Nagelsmann the team up – still.” However, this flippant – or at least insidious (?) – sentence from Klopp before the kick-off of Germany’s first World Cup game came true. And the head coach who will make the next line-up of the DFB team on September 24th at the start of the Nations League in the Netherlands can only be called Klopp.

An agenda with central topics and tasks has been set for the coming days and weeks. The association and the top candidate are already cleverly playing a one-two punch. That the DFB in the separation notice to Nagelsmann “with regard to the replacement of the coaching position” at the same time clearly positioned for Klopp, irritated many and seemed ingratiating, but it was a move.

The expensive Klopp package starts with Red Bull

Just a few hours later, Klopp was able to map out the framework and direction in detail from over 6,000 kilometers away from the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt. With the microphone in one hand, the other hand casually in his trouser pocket – this is how he actively addressed the urgent and complicated topic of his Red Bull farewell in front of the skyscraper backdrop of New York.

The Klopp package will be expensive for the DFB. But it shouldn’t be too expensive. Association boss Neuendorf has to pay attention to this despite the Nike millions that will bubble up from 2027. Media professional Klopp smartly paved the way: “It’s difficult to anticipate conversations. But of course we have already discussed things,” he said in the direction of Red Bull managing director Oliver Mintzlaff, who was at the Formula 1 race in Silverstone at the weekend.

Years ago, Mintzlaff wrested over 25 million euros from FC Bayern as a transfer fee for Julian Nagelsmann when he let him move from RB Leipzig to Munich. But this time it’s about the well-being of German football. And Mintzlaff should be remembered for being part of the DFB task force that was founded after the preliminary round exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to get the national team back on track.

The fact that Klopp also spoke to the Austrian private broadcaster ServusTV, which belongs to Red Bull Media House GmbH, only fits into the picture. “Red Bull must be able to get out of the situation cleanly,” said Klopp.

Contract until the 2028 European Championships – or right up to the 2030 World Cup?

The implementation of the big solution with Klopp will not happen quickly and without hurdles. When asked what was still missing for a signature, the only serious candidate replied with one word: “Time.”

Klopp and his advisors have positioned themselves for a new beginning. It’s – also as a signal – probably not just about a contract until the 2028 European Championships, but right up to the 2030 World Cup. It’s about positions and power. Who does he want to bring with him beyond his proven assistant coaches from his club days, Peter Krawietz and Pepijn Lijnders? How much influence does he claim?

It’s also about Völler’s future

Fits Rudi Völler still in the concept as DFB sports director? It is said that the 66-year-old wants to find out in a direct conversation with Klopp whether there is a basis. Otherwise the pragmatist Völler would draw conclusions.

“There will have to be intensive discussions because of course the problems we are currently having are not linked to Julian Nagelsmann’s personality,” said Klopp. He doesn’t want to be pushed into messiah status. He spoke about “the mental cinema” that could be used by fans, the media and also in the association.

Kloppo is coming – and them DFB eleven automatically plays again for titles. No, Klopp replies energetically: “German football is now of course at a turning point. We now have to fundamentally change things.”

What would a Klopp cosmos look like? He spoke of “absolute passion”. For everyone, starting with the players around captain Joshua Kimmich, this would be the model for a realignment led by the man-catcher Klopp.

The fact that he was able to watch some of the World Cup games in America live in the stadium two years after his departure from Liverpool FC has also given him a new desire to return to the sidelines. «It’s like further training. So whatever happens next for me, I won’t be any stupider after this World Cup. I will have learned a lot. And of course that is necessary,” said Klopp.

That he – still! – has a personal advertising contract with Nike competitor Adidas is not seen as a problem within the DFB. The long-term cooperation agreed in 2020 is scheduled to expire at the end of the year.

Mertesacker raises his finger for a DFB job

Behind Klopp’s great personality, all other heads are receding into the background. It was significant that Per Mertesacker (41), a player in the last German World Cup team in 2014 and head of the youth academy at Arsenal FC for many years, is now expressing his interest in possibly being part of the new beginning.

“To somehow work at the DFB, to give something back to German football, to which I owe so much, if that’s what you want – of course I’m available for that,” said Mertesacker as a TV expert for ZDF. Sports managing director Andreas Rettig is leaving the DFB at the end of the year. And exploratory talks with Mertesacker were reportedly already held – of course before the Nagelsmann-Klopp transition.

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