Jurgen Klopp has stressed Liverpool fans should not “worry” about his squad breaking up when he leaves the club this summer.
Klopp has announced he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season and his decision comes as captain Virgil van Dijk, top scorer Mohamed Salah and vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold all enter the final 18 months of their contracts.
Van Dijk has admitted Liverpool face an uncertain future once Klopp leaves and the Dutch centre-back said he “didn’t know” when asked if he would be part of the new era at Anfield.
Klopp, however, said fans should not be concerned about the situation. “When I said what I had to say, it was clear the outside world wouldn’t give you a second to process it and think about it,” Klopp said on Tuesday.
“Give the boys a break. Nobody has to worry. You can’t wait with these type of questions. Virg didn’t go out and say ‘by the way I want to say’. It’s always about the questions.
Very often the fans’ concerns aren’t as big as the media might think. You underestimate the IQ of our supporters. We’re in this season and these talks could be part of a possible distraction. That’s the same whether you know the manager for next season or not.
The club have known about my departure for a while. Tying the players down and then me saying ‘I won’t be here anymore’, they’d be like ‘no-one told us that’, you can’t work like this, especially with the relationship we have.
“There’s enough time to do everything. These players love to be here. I know that for a fact. It’s not that they have one foot out.”
Klopp revealed midfielder Thiago Alcantara has returned to training for the first time since April while Alexis Mac Allister is set to be fit to face Chelsea on Wednesday.
