Jurgen Klopp moved on quickly after Liverpool break-up no-one saw coming
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.
On this day in 2018, it was announced that Zeljko Buvac, Liverpool's assistant manager, would not work with the first team for the rest of that seasonIt was one of those stories that you didn’t see coming. That you couldn’t actually believe.Eight years ago today it was confirmed that Zeljko Buvac, Liverpool’s assistant manager, would not work with the first team for the remainder of the 2017-18 season.It was a huge shock.
All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook pageNaturally, speculation was rife that Buvac would never return; speculation that proved to be true.But at the time Liverpool would not comment other than to say that Bosnian’s departure was for ‘personal reasons’ – and that his position as Klopp’s right-hand man was unaffected.And he was very much Klopp’s right-hand man. Buvac had been by the German’s side for 17 years – at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and then at Liverpool.They were clearly close.
Yes, the Reds went on to lose the 2018 Champions League, final, going down 3-1 to Real Madrid in Kiev.But from that moment on they were virtually unstoppable, winning the 2019 Champions League final in Madrid, where they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0, and following that by lifting the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA World Club Cup, and eventually, the one supporters wanted the most, the Premier League title.And a key feature of the Reds’ rise was the man who ultimately replaced Buvac, Pep Lijnders.Lijnders returned to Anfield in June 2018 after a stint managing in Holland, but it was not until Buvac officially left his post, in January 2019, that the Dutchman was confirmed as Liverpool’s assistant manager.In the updated version of his biography on Klopp, German football expert Raphael Honigstein said that Buvac had become unhappy at the club due to Lijnders’ growing influence at the club before he left for a six-month stint back in his native Holland.“Buvac gave the impression that he wasn’t happy with the increasing influence of the fourth assistant coach Pepijn Lijnders, ” wrote Honigstein.“The relationship between Buvac and Klopp had survived, but both could simply no longer work together.”Buvac had been linked with the Arsenal job, following Arsene Wenger’s departure, but he did not return to football until February 2020, when he was announced as the new sporting director of Dynamo Moscow in Russia, where he remains.By that stage, Klopp and Liverpool had already proved they could move on from the man who was such an important figure on the training ground at Melwood.And not just move on, but get even better.Later, both Buvac and Klopp spoke about the end of their working relationship."By and large for all these 18 years (with Klopp) I felt myself in charge," Buvac told Nobel. "I did all the same work, I just didn't have that much attention - all these interviews, but I didn't need it."Everyone asks how and why, but people live together for 30 years and then they break up.