Jurgen Klopp stands firm despite FSG's last-ditch 'offer' to stay

Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon jokingly offered Jurgen Klopp a blank cheque if he agreed to stay in charge of Liverpool, a report in the Liverpool Echo has claimed. 

Klopp revealed last Friday his plans to resign his position as Liverpool manager at the end of the season, a decision which has led to widespread shock throughout the world of football. 

The Reds boss claimed in an in-house video interview that he resolved to leave Anfield back in November and that the seeds of his exit were planted during a planning meeting for the 2024-25 season. 

He admitted he might not be able to do it all over again and so the wheels were set in motion for Friday’s bombshell announcement. 

The club have been well aware of Klopp’s intentions for around three months and the German insisted that his imminent departure had nothing to do with any ownership gripes with FSG. 

After he disclosed his plans to leave, it has been claimed that Gordon later offered in jest that Klopp could name his price to stay in charge. 

“Having initially accepted the decision in a lengthy, serious conversation, the Fenway Sports Group president, in what is said to have been a more jocular exchange, was back on the phone with Klopp shortly after. The pair, who have always shared a close relationship, laughed as the American offered to open his chequebook and change his mind,” the report reads.

“It was said to have been a joke, at least, but there's always some truth said in jest, isn't there? Despite the invitation, though, Klopp dismissed his boss' enticing, money-no-object 'offer' and insisted, instead, that his mind was made up.”

Big changes

Klopp was contracted until 2026 but will leave two years earlier than the departure date stipulated in his previous contract update, signed in 2022. 

There will be a revolution on Merseyside this summer with not only Klopp leaving but assistant manager Pep Lijnders, coach Peter Krawietz and elite development coach Vitor Matos. 

Moreover, sporting director Jorg Schmadtke will also leave, albeit far earlier, at the end of this January transfer window. 

FSG would have been reeling from Klopp’s decision to quit Anfield and were prepared to let the ex-Borussia Dortmund man name his terms to remain. 

However, Klopp won’t be convinced, with fatigue cited as a factor behind his decision to bow out. 

Liverpool have won every major available honour since Klopp joined the club as a replacement for Brendan Rodgers back in October 2015.