“You either leave a hero, or you stay long enough to see yourself become the villain” to misquote Batman was my first though when Jurgen Klopp took everyone by surprise when announcing he will be departing Liverpool at the end of the season.
Whilst it was a huge surprise that Klopp is departing, it has been felt for a couple of years that the intense German might be looking for a new challenge – he has been heavily linked with both the Bayern Munich and German national team in recent years.
There is no doubt that Klopp is a Liverpool legend, but has he learned from the mistake another Premier League great who outstayed his welcome after taking his club to the top.
Arsene Wenger is one of the greatest men in Arsenal’s history. It really is no debate. But it is also no debate that he should have left the club earlier than what he did.
Wenger took over as Arsenal manager in October 1996. Similarly, Jurgen Klopp also joined Liverpool in October (2015).
If he makes it through to the end of the season, Klopp would have spent nearly 9 seasons with Liverpool. Had Wenger departed after the same amount of time, he would have left after the 2004 invincible season. Unlikely to have happened (nor would anyone had been happy with him had he left in the summer of 2004 to join Real Madrid).
For me, Wenger’s departure should have happened in 2015, having won back to back FA Cups. He should have looked at the landscape of football and realised that at that point, it was time to hand the reigns of Arsenal to a new, younger manager with fresh ideas.
The restrictions of the stadium debt were just beginning to loosen, Manchester United were on the decline following Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, and a certain Jurgen Klopp had just left Borussia Dortmund.
Instead of departing a hero, Wenger would stay another 3-years and see many thousands of Arsenal fans turn against him.
I often think back to that summer of 2015. We had an exciting team with the genuine world class talents of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. These were backed up by superstars such as Laurent Koscielny, Aaron Ramsey, Per Mertesacker, Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott and more. We would finish 2nd in 2015/16 which on paper would look decent.
But we would finish 2nd behind a Leicester City team that would win the league with just 81 points. That summer we signed a single player senior player – Petr Cech. In January we would add Mohamed Elneny.
Would our world have been different if Wenger stepped aside and let Klopp take the reigns? Would we have be the Premier League champions that year? And what would we have gone on to achieve under Klopp over the next 9 seasons? It certainly feels like a sliding doors moment.
Instead, Wenger stayed and after finishing 2nd, he would oversee us dropping out of the top 4 for the first time since 1996 a year later. Poor signings and financial mismanagement would see us spend 6 years out of the Champions League.
Whilst 2016/17 would be the first year in over 20 that we would finish out of the top 4, it would be just Liverpool’s 2nd top 4 finish in 9 years. And since that season Liverpool would never look back.
Another sliding doors moment may have happened in 2017.
Alexis Sanchez was being heavily linked to a big money move away to Manchester City – rumoured to be in excess of £60m. For some reason, Wenger failed to prepare for his departue and the result was we swapped him with Henrikh Mkhitaryan. A deal that worked out badly for both Arsenal and Manchester United.
The Sanchez deal was a clear sign that Wenger, who in his early days was a leader in terms of recruitment, was now past his best. A more forward thinking manager would have cashed in on Sanchez, and replaced him with a 25-year-old former Chelsea winger who was performing well in Italy.
Sanchez out, Mo Salah in would have been a deal that Wenger would have done in his early days. Instead the Egyptian signed for Klopp’s Liverpool. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Now let me flip this blog on its head with the praise of Klopp.
In the 8 completed seasons he ahs spent with Liverpool, he has led them to 4 honours. One each of the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup (Club World Cup, European Super Cup and Community Shield will always just be glorified friendlies).#
I was surprised about just how little Klopp had won with Liverpool. And it got me thinking – if Arteta is sitting at Arsenal in January 2027 having won 4 trophies at Arsenal, would you deem his time at the club a success?
He already has the FA Cup in the bag. So to match what Klopp has done at Liverpool he needs to win the Champions League, Premier League and League Cup. He has 3 and a bit seasons to do it. Then he needs to match whatever Liverpool win this year (they could win the quadruple at the time of writing!).
Personally, I would see Arteta period as a success if he walked away from us in the summer of 2027 having won the 4 trophies Klopp has won for Liverpool. It would mean we would have finally won the European Cup, we had broken our 20-year run without a league title, and have won the League Cup for the first time since 1993!
But I am sure there are others that would deem 4 trophies in nearly 9 years as not good enough. Afterall, Pep won 3 trophies in a single season at Manchester City. They will point out that Arteta would have won just 4 from 36(ish) trophies. He has failed 32 times.
So it will be interesting to get these fans take here and now on Liverpool. Has Klopp been a success? Or has he been a heroic failure challenging against the Manchester City juggernaut.
I finish this blog by looking back to when Wenger stayed on too long and, instead of getting Klopp or Pep, he oversaw our demise and badly damaged his legacy. I guess the final question is: If Klopp is still unemployed in 12 months, would you sack Arteta for him?
Keenos
