Jurgen Klopp responds to Virgil van Dijk hinting at Liverpool exit | Football

The German coach announced on Friday that he would be stepping down as manager at the end of the season and, just a few days later, his captain – who is out of contract in 2025 – raised doubts over his own long-term future at the club.

Asked if he could envisage being part of the post-Klopp era at Liverpool, Van Dijk replied: ‘That’s a big question. Well, I don’t know.’

He continued: ‘The club will have a big job on their hands. That is well known. To replace the manager and replace not only the manager, the staff is leaving, and there are so many things that will change.

‘So the club has a big job on its hands and I am very curious which direction that will go in. But when that will be announced we will see our situation. I can’t say much about it.’

While Van Dijk’s comments had many fearing that Klopp might not be the only high-profile departure on the way, the Liverpool boss himself is adamant there is nothing to worry about and hit out at the line of questioning.

Asked about Van Dijk’s interview, and whether there was a danger Liverpool’s top players might follow him out the exit door, Klopp replied: ‘No. No, I don’t think so. And it’s completely normal.

‘I said what I had to say and then it was always clear that the outside world will not give you a second to process it, to think about it. The next thing is just, “What are you doing?!”

‘So a week ago or whenever, when no-one knew about my decision, he had 18 months on his contract and nobody asked!

‘So give us a break, give the boys [a break]. And if I’m here we need to create a perspective and all these kinds of things, what’s happening next and stuff like this, that’s completely normal, nobody has to worry.

‘That’s why I say this team, the majority of everything is exactly like this, but if you want to find somebody who is not safe now, who has a contract only until 2025, you will find it.

‘So I knew that it would happen, because you can’t wait with these kinds of questions. Virgil didn’t go out and say, “By the way, I want to say…” so it’s always about the questions and we always need to answer these kind of things.

‘Write what you want. This club is stable, 100 per cent. Everything will be fine, I’m 100 per cent sure.

‘And the rest, we have to get through this, we have to get through your questions, we have to give some answers, and that’s how it is. I would recommend [to our fans] to stay calm in this department, massively.’

He added: ‘These players love to be here, don’t forget that. It’s not that they have one foot out [the door]. Do they want to know a little bit about perspective? That’s there and that will happen and it will happen especially behind the scenes.

‘And the only annoying part is you [the media], because everything is fine. Just because we have to constantly answer questions it sounds like… what’s going on? Why are they doing that? Why are they not doing that? Because things, especially important things, need time. So it’s all fine. Don’t worry.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.