Jurgen Klopp will become Liverpool's new manager providing an agreement can be made on how the club conducts its transfer business.
Discussions between Anfield officials and the 48-year-old are at an advanced stage after meetings held yesterday close to Liverpool's London offices in Bloomsbury. Klopp, who takes much of the credit for Borussia Dortmund's transformation from Bundesliga relegation fodder to two-time champions, worked closely in Germany with chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke as well as sporting director Michael Zorc on the issue of recruitment and is understood to be seeking clarity on who would have the final say at Liverpool.
Klopp formed a close bond with Zorc particularly - a former player at Dortmund - and it is possible that he might request someone of a similar stature fills the same role at Liverpool, a job that would bridge the gap between the boardroom and management. Potentially, such a move would render irrelevant the club's much-criticised transfer committee.
Last week, it was said in the German media that Klopp was being considered by Bayern Munich as a potential replacement for Pep Guardiola should he choose to leave Bavaria next summer. Since then, contract negotiations have begun and although both Manchester clubs would like to appoint him in the future, it now seems he will remain in Germany for at least another 18 months.
Klopp would not be willing to wait for that long and now his thoughts are with Liverpool, a job that attracts him because of the club's history and the enormity of task - one that will be as testing as when he started out at Dortmund in the summer of 2008.
Yesterday, Stefan Effenberg, the former Germany international and a friend of Klopp's, said a deal with Liverpool was close. “When you come to a team and everything is 100 per cent it's not a challenge,” he said. “This would be a challenge for Jürgen Klopp: to build and to create something new.” – The Independent