FOUR crucial thing that will favour Arsenal after Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool sudden exist – big opportunity for Mikel Arteta to take over the league now
Liverpool will start a Premier League campaign without Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield dug-out for the first time since 2014 next season.
Klopp, 56, has announced he will leave the Reds at the end of the current season. The decision will put an end to his successful spell on Merseyside where he has won every available club competition.
“I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff,” the German explained in an interview with Liverpool’s website. “I love everything. But that I still take this decision shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take.
“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.”
What happens next at Liverpool remains to be seen. But how Klopp’s exit from the Premier League will impact Arsenal and Mikel Artera is certainly clearer.
For Arteta himself, touchline antics and disagreements in the right dug-out at Anfield will be no longer. The Gunners boss was involved in a spat with Klopp two and a half years ago, an incident that went viral for Arteta’s clear anger towards his counterpart.
Now, the next manager at Liverpool is unclear. But Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso has emerged as the early frontrunner to return to England and continue his impressive start to his managerial career.
The two Spaniards played for San Sebastian side Antiguoko before they went their separate ways to play elsewhere. A move to the Premier League would see the pair face off against each other for the first time in the dug-out.
Arteta would have his coaching mentor at Manchester City with Pep Guardiola and his childhood friend at Liverpool in Alonso. Think it’s fair to say we could expect some tense moments on the touchline.
Away from the Arsenal head coach, an opportunity in the transfer market could present itself to Edu Gaspar. The Brazilian has become renowned for scouring South America for talent from overseas with Gabriel Martinelli and Marquinhos signed in recent years, with many Brazilian wonderkids linked.
Liverpool possess a number of South American players. Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Alexis Mac Allister are all regular starters for Klopp but their individual circumstances could change depending on who replaces Klopp over the summer.
Finally, the Premier League title race in years to come could very well change. Prior to Arsenal’s second-placed finish last term, Liverpool and Man City competed with each other for three seasons at the top of English football.
The shake-up at Anfield means Liverpool’s presence in any sort of title race next season or after is unclear. That would leave Arsenal and Man City as the two main challengers competing for the Premier League.
Football obviously isn’t that simple and Tottenham, Manchester United or even Chelsea could emerge as possible contenders. However, if the last two seasons are anything to go by, it’s hard to see any of them three become world beaters.
