“Rarely seen like this”
At his first Red Bull appearance, Klopp appears very different
01/15/2025 – 01:00 a.mReading time: 3 minutes
Jürgen Klopp gave his introduction to Red Bull in Salzburg in English. However, something else is particularly striking about the former master trainer.
When Jürgen Klopp was introduced on Tuesday in Hangar7 on the Salzburg Airport grounds, he showed the journalists present his distinctive smile. With a broad grin, he answered the questions about his job as the new star of the Red Bull empire. The ex-Liverpool coach sipped a can from the effervescent manufacturer, for which he will work as a sporting advisor in the future. “I want to help people get better, give them wings. That’s just cool,” said the 57-year-old, who will serve as Red Bull’s Global Head of Football. So as world boss of football.
“I don’t want to improve the game, but football as a whole,” said Klopp, who returned to the big stage after months of vacation: “I can’t wait.” After almost a quarter of a century as a coach, Klopp said he sees himself as a consultant and “simple employee” in the future. “That’s exactly what I wanted to do” after the exhausting time on the sidelines: “I don’t want to be a follower or just a celebrity in the room, but rather make a contribution – I’ve realized: I can do that.”
More astonishing than the expected PR statements with which Klopp advertised his new job was the appearance of the football expert. The former master trainer appeared at his performance looking leaner than ever before. This even forced recognition from RB Leipzig’s coach Marco Rose: “He’s in top condition, I’ve rarely seen him so thin,” Rose marveled, “he’s bursting with energy and drive. You can feel it.”
Rose should know, after all, he played under Klopp at Mainz 05 in the mid-noughties. At that time, the two had only been promoted to the Bundesliga and then even achieved a place in the European Cup. Since then, contact between the two has never stopped, as Rose reported. Another Klopp protégé from their time together in Mainz has now landed in the Brause universe as a coach: Sandro Schwarz. He is currently coaching the New York Red Bulls and reached the final with the MLS team last season.
Red Bull managing director Oliver Mintzlaff sat next to Klopp at the presentation in Salzburg and said unequivocally what he expected from Klopp in the “best job in the football world”: “We want to win, we want to deliver.” In the front row, RB Leipzig director Mario Gomez and cycling manager Ralph Denk sat on white leather sofas and nodded.
Does Klopp feel pressure? “No,” he said confidently but clearly: “Everything we can squeeze out, we’ll try to squeeze out.” When he spoke to Mintzlaff about the position, he “quickly caught fire.” But under no circumstances does he want to be on the sidelines of a Red Bull club or is Julian Nagelsmann looking for the job. “We have the best national coach.” He wasn’t nervous: “Why should I?”
Maybe because the expectations of the 57-year-old are huge and go far beyond what Mintzlaff publicly expressed. That was evident from the way it was presented. In front of more than a dozen cameras and around 150 media representatives from all over the world, Klopp was flanked by two Formula 1 cars, and his autograph was emblazoned next to the company logo on a billboard behind him. He spoke English throughout. At the entrance there was a cartoon of the shower giant available for guests, showing Klopp flying over the football world with wings in the brand’s typical advertising style.
Klopp gives you wings, that’s what the brewery company’s slogan should say. He himself seems to have recharged himself during the break he took since resigning from Liverpool last summer. He had withdrawn from the Premier League saying he had no more energy – a contradiction? No, Klopp insisted, “I was no longer the right man at the Reds, but I didn’t say that I didn’t want to work anymore. I needed something new.”