Klopp spent the opening minutes of his first press conference as Germany head coach telling German journalists how far into his life they will be allowed.
“If you behave badly and don’t leave my family in peace then I’ll be gone, I’ll just turn away,” Klopp told reporters at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt on 24 July.
The former Liverpool manager, who has signed a contract running through the 2030 World Cup, pointed to how the German media has handled his predecessors.
“I’m taking this job even though I’ve seen how you’ve treated Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel,” he said.
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‘The time is right’ for Klopp’s pinnacle
The warning sat inside a press conference that was otherwise unmistakably Klopp: emotional, self-deprecating, and framed as the top of a career he insists is closing after this.
“Over the last few days it was almost like a movie happening to myself,” Klopp said.
“For many, many years it was unimaginable for me to assume this position. Now I think the time is right.”
He called the appointment “the pinnacle, the absolutely high point of my footballing career as coach” and ruled out any next stop.
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“Jurgen Klopp is not going to have any ‘career’ after the national team.”
Klopp on his ‘worst’ Nagelsmann joke
Klopp was pressed on a jab he made as a MagentaTV pundit at this summer’s World Cup, when he told viewers “Luckily, Julian Nagelsmann is still picking the team. Still.”
The doubled “still” was widely read in Germany as a hint that Nagelsmann’s job was in trouble.
“It was a joke,” Klopp said in Frankfurt.
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“In retrospect it was one of the worst ‘funny’ remarks I have ever made.”
He had already apologised to Nagelsmann live on air during Germany’s group-stage win over Curaçao, saying he “could have punched myself in the face” for the remark.
Germany then lost to Paraguay on penalties in the round of 32, and Nagelsmann was dismissed after the tournament.
Klopp wants Germany to play ‘the German way’
Klopp will work alongside sporting director Rudi Völler. He was warm about the arrangement, praising Völler’s “ability to get angry at the right moments” and saying he wanted “all of that in my team.”
Asked how his Germany will play, Klopp reached for identity rather than a system.
“We don’t want to play like Argentina, Spain, England or France. We want to do it the German way, very intense.”
He set the fan experience as his measure.
“I want to create a situation where fans go home after the game and say: ‘Wow, that was cool.'”
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Germany travel to Amsterdam to face the Netherlands on 24 September for Klopp’s first game in charge.
