Klopp set for Wirtz talks after Germany move to appoint ex-Liverpool boss as national manager

Jurgen Klopp is set to hold formal talks with the German Football Association (DFB) over becoming the national team’s next manager, a role that would reunite him with Liverpool midfielder Florian Wirtz — a player he has publicly defended throughout a turbulent first season in England.

The DFB announced Klopp’s candidacy on Friday alongside the confirmation that Julian Nagelsmann had stepped down following Germany’s penalty shootout defeat to Paraguay in the round of 32 at the World Cup. Nagelsmann, 38, had been in charge since September 2023.

A clause in Klopp’s contract as Red Bull’s Global Head of Soccer permits him to take the Germany job, clearing the path for a return to frontline management. The 57-year-old left Liverpool at the end of the 2023-24 season after nine years at Anfield.

One of the central figures in any Klopp Germany tenure would be Wirtz, who joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen in a £115 million deal — a British record at the time — only to endure an underwhelming debut campaign. The 23-year-old managed seven goals and eight assists in 49 appearances under Arne Slot, who was sacked in May and replaced by Andoni Iraola.

Klopp has been among Wirtz’s most vocal supporters throughout that difficult period. Speaking to German broadcaster RTL ahead of the transfer, he said: “It will be really, really great. I’m sure of it. It’s very difficult to strengthen a team when you’re champions. But Liverpool have managed that. They’ve signed an exceptional talent in Florian Wirtz.”

As criticism of Wirtz mounted in October, Klopp doubled down on the podcast The Diary of a CEO: “You all will eat your words if you use the wrong words with Florian Wirtz. He’s an incredible talent and player.” He told RTL in the same month that the debate around Wirtz’s form was “being blown out of proportion”, adding: “He’s a once-in-a-century talent, and at some point he’ll show that in every game again, as he did at Leverkusen.”

Most recently, while working as a pundit at the World Cup for German broadcaster Magenta, Klopp offered a tactical hint about how he would deploy Wirtz at international level, stressing the importance of keeping him involved in the flow of play — a subtle acknowledgement that the player’s struggles at Liverpool may have stemmed partly from how he was used.

If appointed, Klopp would inherit a Germany squad that exited the World Cup earlier than expected, and face the immediate challenge of rebuilding confidence around a generation of players that includes Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, and Florian Wirtz’s former Leverkusen teammates.