LEWIS STEELE: Jurgen Klopp's shock departure has sparked an Anfield exodus that threatens to leave the club vulnerable
Let's imagine Liverpool as a game of Jenga. For the last eight-and-a-half years, the club has been a formidable tower of stability. Now, with the upcoming departure of Jurgen Klopp and several other key components of the club’s make-up, there is a risk the whole structure becomes shaky.
The foundations are still solid. Mike Gordon and Fenway Sports Group are sound owners and chief executive Billy Hogan is a safe pair of hands. The players are top-quality, with a thriving academy in a purple patch of production.
But Klopp leaving was not the only piece to be pulled out of the tower on Friday. Less headline-worthy but still significant was the news of other exits that will follow — Klopp’s long-serving right-hand men Pep Lijnders and Peter Krawietz plus the ‘link man’ Vitor Matos, a coach who serves as a messenger between the academy and first team.
Also buried amid the number of Klopp love-in features on Liverpool’s website was the announcement that sporting director Jorg Schmadtke will leave at the end of the January transfer window. That is no huge surprise. The German, a close ally of Klopp’s, was always seen as a short-term solution.
But these five blocks being pulled out of the tower leave Liverpool, so often credited as one of the best-run clubs in Europe, looking vulnerable.
Virgil van Dijk’s comments, in which Liverpool’s captain refused to commit his long-term future to Anfield, caused a stir to say the least. There are no pressing concerns that he wants out but his reluctance to go on record with a desire to stay sent fans into a state of anxiety on social media.
Who can blame Van Dijk? The only manager he has known at Liverpool is leaving, with the entire coaching team following him out of the door. Fitness guru
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