Mark Lawrenson has revealed what Jurgen Klopp is set to get up to in his spare time when he walks away from Liverpool this summer.
Klopp announced on Friday morning that he will leave Anfield at the end of the season, as he explained that he needs a break from the game due to ‘running out of energy’ after nine years on Merseyside.
The 56-year-old was non-committal when asked exactly what he would do next after spending the last 23 years on the touchline, but former Liverpool defender and pundit Lawrenson believes Klopp is already planning to move abroad with his wife, Ulla.
‘I’m not sure I should tell you this but it’s not a massive secret. He’s having a house built in Mallorca,’ Lawrenson told Off the Ball.
‘I have a house somewhere not far away from where he’s building his, and I saw him the other month, and I just said to him after the game “how’s the house going on?”
Jurgen Klopp has announced he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season
Mark Lawrenson has revealed what Klopp is set to do when he departs Anfield this summer
Klopp paid £3.4million to buy the ‘sensational’ house (pictured) in Mallorca in June 2022
‘And Ulla, his wife, is in charge of everything in terms of that, and he just said “the bloody thing’s not even ready yet, and I’m paying all the bills!” So he’s probably going to retreat to there for a while, I would suggest.’
Klopp purchased the home in Mallorca in June 2022 for €4m (£3.4m) from Swiss businessman and artist Rolf Knie.
It is a 5,000-square metre property, and Klopp decided to completely rebuild it, but it is still not finished.
It is understood that Klopp stays at a nearby hotel when he visits the island, but that is set to change when the redevelopment is complete.
While progress on the house has not been swift, Lawrenson insisted it will be well worth the wait.
Klopp, pictured with wife Ulla and their dog Emma in 2013. Klopp met Ulla in 2005
‘I can tell you now, it’s not a nice gaff, it’s an absolutely fabulous gaff. It’s sensational, it really seriously is,’ Lawrenson added.
Speaking on his future at a press conference on Friday, Klopp stated that he wanted to try and live a ‘normal life’ when he departs Liverpool, and insisted he would not return to the dugout for at least a year.
‘I have never lived a (normal) life. That is true,’ he said. ‘Having three or four weeks in the summer was enough, but not any more.
‘No club, no country for the next year, no other English club ever, I can promise that. Even if I have nothing to eat, it will not happen.’
He now looks set to spend more time with Ulla, who has had a major influence on Klopp’s key decisions over the years.
Klopp’s admission of burnout mirrors when he left his previous club Borussia Dortmund after Ulla was said to have played a major role in his departure.
Klopp’s wife Ulla has been an influential voice during key moments in his career
Klopp was asked about the influence of Ulla on his resignation – and said she was ‘happy’ with his decision.
She had also been integral to him signing a new contract extension in 2022. The pair met while Ulla was working as a waitress in a bar in Munich before getting married in 2005.
‘I had to explain it, of course I had to,’ he said. ‘It was not like, “Oh, thank God”. You must not misunderstand. Not at all.
‘Obviously Ulla wants me to do well and be fine, and when she realised that I’m really clear about [his decision], she is happy for me.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk