Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has responded to Jurgen Klopp's announcement of departing the club by the end of this season.
On Friday, the German manager conveyed his decision to the players before issuing a public statement. Van Dijk has acknowledged that it was challenging to come to terms with the news. This marks the conclusion of a highly successful nine-year tenure at Anfield for Klopp, during which he transformed a struggling club into Premier League and Champions League winners.
Van Dijk, a key player for Klopp throughout the years, was signed for £75 million in 2017. The legendary Liverpool centre-back has confessed that the news was "tough to take."
Speaking on Klopp’s departure for the first time, Van Dijk said: “It's a hard one to take, because the manager means so much for us, to me, to the club, to the whole Premier League I think. But he made the decision for him and his family. It was always going to be a tough one and it was definitely the case.”
Van Dijk went on to reveal that Klopp told his players he would be leaving in private prior to the big announcement. But the Netherlands skipper insisted the squad is laser-focused on their ambitions for the rest of the season.
“I think how we always try to manage noise from the outside. Of course this is massive, it's massive news in football. For us, it was also a very big day. But we have big targets this year and that's definitely stressed by the manager as well.
“For us and for me personally as well, I want to make sure the rest of the boys think like that too. I think that's the case as well. We all want to achieve so much and that mindset was already there since pre-season and that doesn't change.
“It will maybe even give you an extra boost to do that extra or maybe enjoy it a little bit even more together and make the last part of the season, the last bit of the manager's time at the club, the best time he's ever had.”
Klopp, who is looking to leave with a bang as his team remain in the running for a historic quadruple, was adamant he would not take up a coaching position at another English club. He even suggested he may never manage a football team again.
“I will leave the club at the end of the season,” he said. “I can understand that it's a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time, but obviously I can explain it – or at least try to explain it.
“It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.”
Klopp will depart from the Anfield club after nearly nine years at the helm. The ex-Borussia Dortmund manager has steered the team to triumphs in the Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup in England. His squad has also made it to three Champions League finals, emerging victorious once.
In the current season, Klopp will endeavour to guide Liverpool to a second Premier League title. The Merseyside team currently sits atop the table, holding a five-point lead over the reigning champions Manchester City, who have a game in hand.