Jurgen Klopp Meeting That Set Liverpool On Path To Title Glory

In a Formby mansion on Victoria Road, 13 miles from Anfield, two chief architects of Liverpool’s re-emergence as a superpower are mapping out the course towards the club’s 20th league title.

For Jürgen Klopp and Michael Edwards it is a moment of hope and high risk.

The exiting managerial legend and the newly appointed Fenway Sports Group football chief executive have reunited for a daunting challenge: how to ensure Klopp’s last dance avoids the missteps at Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson quit in 2013, and Arsenal in the immediate aftermath of Arsène Wenger’s exit.

Those close to the duo consider this Liverpool Football Club’s equivalent of John Lennon and Paul McCartney tuning up for a final rooftop performance.

Recognising the magnitude of the task, Klopp welcomed Edwards into his home in March 2024 to mull over the past, consider the immediate possibilities of the present, and commit his final few weeks in charge to facilitate a golden future. Edwards already had an idea who Klopp’s successor would be, although the deal was yet to be done.

“Arne Slot? Cool decision,” said Klopp when he was told who Liverpool wanted the next manager to be.

So began the smoothest Kop transition since Bill Shankly handed the reins to his assistant Bob Paisley in the summer of 1974.

Within Anfield, it has been colourfully christened “the immaculate handover”.

As he takes his place in the pantheon with legendary title winners, Slot should be lauded as the author of this title season. He will acknowledge the Pulitzer-Prize standard of the prologue written by others.

It consisted of more than Klopp conducting the Kop to sing Slot’s name on the final day of last season, the outgoing manager serving briefly as the next incumbent’s chief scout as much as cheerleader.

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It was Jurgen Klopp's moment. He used it to give Liverpool fans a new song for their incoming manager.

One of the biggest clips on the Optus Sport social media pages in 2024, and there's no wonder why! pic.twitter.com/G5AXybpYuU

— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) December 26, 2024

And it absorbs a restructure of football operations which means Liverpool no longer impose so much responsibility into a single, charismatic leader.

Slot, whose title “head coach” was a deliberate specification, gratefully embraced Klopp’s input. The pair had many long phone conversations as their reigns overlapped – Klopp’s assistant Pep Lijnders was similarly proactive in sharing information – Slot intent on blending the recipes of his predecessor with his own speculaaskruiden.

“Similar, but different” became the recurring theme of his triumphant debut campaign.

Once Klopp and Edwards ended their chat on that spring day, the manager still believed he could win “No 20”. His side ran out of gas in the final weeks of the title race, but he was reassured he was leaving at the right time to the perfect coach.

“I can’t wait to see you make the next steps,” he told the team in his final address. Klopp’s journey to this serenity was long, winding and exhausting.

A triumph five years in the making

Rewind 14 months and Klopp cut a more downbeat figure, and to understand fully how Liverpool became champions again in 2025 demands appreciation of how the club withstood an energy crisis and loss of central figures following their previous title.

The triumph of 2020 was a story of reconstruction; the 2025 success is one of reinvigoration.

When the 30-year wait to be English champions ended, it seemed a new Anfield dynasty beckoned under Klopp. Instead, the immediate aftermath in the grip of Covid was debilitating, and attempts to delegitimise the success by rivals who had wanted the season to be null and void were dispiriting.

Any chance of successive championships was wrecked by a serious knee injury to Virgil van Dijk in October 2020.

Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool struggled through the Covid-hit 2020-21 season to eventually finish third - The Daily Mail NMC Pool/Kevin Quigley

Liverpool’s title defence was a slog. A crippling injury list did not prevent brutal criticism as Liverpool were forced to play central midfielders or rookies at centre-back in a soulless, deserted Anfield.

By the end of the gruelling 2020-21 campaign, Klopp ranked finishing third as “one of the biggest achievements ever”.

“I know how that sounds, but it’s the truth,” he said. “If you want to write a book about a season and you want to be depressed afterwards, then you’d probably take this season.”

Klopp insisted he was not fatigued – he would later surprise many within the club by signing a four-year deal and quoting the Beatles – “I feel fine”. Others were more inclined to shout “help!”

The responsibility of guaranteeing Liverpool challenge every year in an increasingly competitive environment took a toll.

Liverpool would have had four titles since 2014 but for three last-day heartbreaks against a club under investigation for breaching spending limits. They would have three Champions League title wins since 2018 but for two final losses against the most decorated club in Europe, Real Madrid.

Taking on these behemoths with what is described internally as a “moral and responsible” transfer policy limits the scope for expensive mistakes.

Edwards and his chief lieutenants, Julian Ward and influential head of data Ian Graham, had been at Liverpool since 2011. Fenway Sports Group president Michael Gordon – who could be seen as the Brian Epstein of the operation and was dubbed the “man who never sleeps” by Edwards – understood the foundations were about to be put to their stiffest test. They would need reinforcing.

“There were many people at the club who had dedicated their life to Liverpool for 10 years and they were starting to feel the impact of individual burnout,” reflected one senior Anfield source.

After the title defence, Edwards and Graham decided the next season was their last.

They almost left on the ultimate high, Liverpool two wins from a historic quadruple in May 2022 as they showed fitness, not a lack of foresight, quality or signings, had been the main problem 12 months earlier.

Klopp’s plans were dealt a blow in 2022 and 2023 when key allies Michael Edwards (left) and Michael Gordon (right) stepped back - Getty Images/John Powell

Ward, Edwards’s deputy, assumed the sporting director’s role. Within months he admitted that he also needed a break.

So long as Klopp was front of house, it seemed business as usual. The manager believed the team would go again in 2022-23. Instead, the next six months would be his most exhausting as he and others began to experience the same symptoms that had prompted Edwards to quit.

At the top of FSG, Gordon confided to Klopp that he too needed to step back from day-to-day duties for personal reasons.

At the time, Liverpool downplayed the importance of so much reconfiguration. Today, there are admissions that, pieced together, it amounted to seismic activity.

The next tremor was in November 2022, when FSG tested the market by dispatching what was described pithily as a “sale, but not for sale” document, ambiguous enough to invite potential buyers to bid for the club, while allowing the owners to reiterate with great force that they were looking for investment rather than a strategic exit.

The process added to the broader precariousness as the team’s form unravelled.

By the mid-season break for the Qatar World Cup in December 2022, Klopp looked like he was standing solo at Liverpool’s winter training camp in Dubai, too much responsibility in one figurehead to find the answers.

The three pillars critical to Liverpool’s success circa 2015-20 were Gordon, Klopp and Edwards. One was gone and the other two were contemplating their roles in the club’s future. The engine room that drove Klopp’s greatest triumphs – captain Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner (Georginio Wijnaldum left 18 months earlier) – were on the final bar of their battery life. The previous summer’s signings, Darwin Núñez and Fabio Carvalho, were not a good fit.

Defeat by Real Madrid in the 2022 Champions League final had left fans frustrated at Klopp’s seeming reluctance to revamp his midfield, helmed by veteran Jordan Henderson - Shutterstock/Ronald Wittek

Liverpool, in their worst position since Klopp’s appointment, would fail to retain Champions League status. The Kop’s love for the manager remained unconditional, but for the first time his judgment was being questioned by supporters who felt he had erred in ignoring the need for a midfield revamp sooner.

This was the epicentre in the journey between the two Premier League wins – the moment when Klopp knew the clock was ticking on his reign.

Klopp’s finest and most selfless act

Some close to Klopp believe that had previous levels been maintained in 2022-23, he would have gone sooner. Instead, he pledged he would not leave a mess. This, many at the club passionately argue, was one of his finest and most selfless managerial acts.

“You will never see a greater example of a world-class manager putting ego aside to make sure everything was in place for his successor,” said a source close to the owners. “Jürgen had a profound effect on Liverpool’s history when he joined, and the gracious manner of his departure meant he did exactly the same when he left.”

Klopp’s vision, as with his first triumph, was to put incremental building blocks back into the team.

“To accomplish big things, do a lot of little things right and add them up,” he would always tell colleagues.

Trust the process. Lay the foundations brick by brick. These are now Liverpool slogans as much as “pass and move” in the boot-room years.

Cody Gakpo’s arrival in January 2023 set Klopp’s Liverpool rebuild plan in motion - Shutterstock/Peter Powell

The flames of revival in the side Klopp would christen “Liverpool 2.0” ignited with the first key purchase of that time, PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo, in January 2023.

Work then accelerated on a midfield refit, the business of summer 2023 crucial.

Liverpool’s recruitment team had earlier produced a report naming three of the best young central midfielders in Europe; Monaco’s Aurélien Tchouaméni, Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham and Ajax’s Ryan Gravenberch.

In 2022, Tchouaméni rejected Liverpool and joined Real Madrid for €100 million (£85 million), while Gravenberch chose Bayern Munich.

Borussia Dortmund would not sell Bellingham in the same summer they lost Erling Haaland. Liverpool hoped they could tempt Bellingham in the summer of 2023.

Once Real Madrid made their move for the England man, reality dawned he too would be going to the Bernabéu.

News of Liverpool conceding defeat was confirmed in March 2023. It played badly with the fans, prompting one of Klopp’s most tempestuous media appearances when frustrations boiled over about the lack of understanding about what the club had achieved in going head-to-head with Manchester City.

“I never understood why we constantly speak about things we theoretically cannot have,” Klopp said. “We are not children asking for a Ferrari at Christmas. There are moments when you step aside and do different stuff.”

Liverpool were beaten to Jude Bellingham’s signature by Real Madrid in June 2023 - Getty Images/Helios de la Rubia

Three midfielders for the price of one Bellingham

The “different stuff” consisted of three midfielders instead of one; Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Gravenberch, who became the next archetypal FSG signing – a meticulously scouted young footballer struggling after his first high-profile move but who might only need a change of scene to unlock his talent to become an Anfield bargain.

Thus, in true “moneyball” style, Liverpool created Bellingham “in the aggregate” with players whose combined fee of £130 million is marginally higher than the sum Dortmund received for the England midfielder, and whose salaries added together were less than it would have cost for one superstar.

Ward, working until the last day of his contract, was crucial as he oversaw all those deals.

Once he had left, transfer policy briefly seemed more erratic. Liverpool bid £111 million for Moisés Caicedo – a punt in which it was calculated that the best-case scenario was the Brighton midfielder would snub Stamford Bridge and dash to Anfield, and in the worst case prompt Chelsea to pay £115 million for a player they had originally valued at £70 million.

Whatever the intent, it was not a good look for the Anfield club, especially as they also lost out to Chelsea for Southampton’s Romeo Lavía. Klopp and Jörg Schmadtke, a short-term appointment as sporting director, used their Bundesliga contacts to sign Wataru Endo, a quirky but popular choice.

Within weeks of the 2023-24 season, the new Liverpool fused, the trusted seniors Mohamed Salah, Van Dijk and Alisson Becker reasserting their class alongside recent recruits and emerging academy talents as Liverpool went on to win the Carabao Cup and challenge for the league title.

Klopp to leave, but Edwards to return

Klopp looked refreshed. In reality, he was demob happy. In November, the German confirmed to the owners the rebuild was a gift for his replacement.

“The players will benefit from a new voice,” Klopp informed his board.

When the formal announcement was met with shock, there was calm in Boston, appreciative of the head start in the recruitment process. Principal owner John W Henry and chairman Tom Werner trusted the processes and people they had put in place at Anfield would ensure a smooth transition, although at that stage there was no stand-out replacement.

Xabi Alonso’s mooted arrival at Anfield as Klopp’s replacement never materialised - Getty Images/Jarg Schaler

Like everyone else on the day he quit, Klopp presumed former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso was the obvious choice, and there are suggestions one of the reasons he announced his intentions so early was to allow Liverpool to move swiftly.

Gordon decided he would not try to replace the irreplaceable, considering it a fool’s errand. What Liverpool needed was a restructured football project consisting of the smartest operators so that the next incumbent never felt he had to carry the backpack alone.

Sitting in his office with a blank sheet of paper, Gordon wrote the only name he considered capable of assembling it.

“Michael Edwards? A f---ing great idea,” Klopp responded.

Gordon had never stopped trying to lure back Edwards because he considers him the best football executive in world football. There was no plan B. Gordon was buoyed by the fact Edwards had not joined a rival club, nor been tempted to join one of the federations or investment groups seducing him.

After meeting Chelsea’s new owners and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos, and rejecting a formal offer from the Glazer family to rebuild Manchester United’s football department, a refreshed, enthused Edwards concluded that the sensible option was a return to the FSG fold, this time to effectively take Gordon’s job and assume a broader portfolio. A few days later he was in Klopp’s home – legacy planning.

Edwards appointed Bournemouth’s Richard Hughes as the new sporting director, and such was the trust, Liverpool’s owners deferred responsibility to find the right manager.

They were informed by Edwards and Hughes that Alonso was committed to another year at Bayer Leverkusen. Another target, Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, was admired but did not play the right formation for Liverpool’s squad profile.

The modelling always placed the Feyenoord coach top (Edwards first mentioned his name to Gordon before agreeing to return to Liverpool), and when Hughes and Slot gelled from their first meeting in the Netherlands, the appointment was green-lit in Boston.

Arne Slot, aided by new sporting director Richard Hughes (right), saw his data-driven approach yield startlingly quick results - Getty Images/Andrew Powell

Slot ready to defy expectations

Slot did not meet any of the owners until the pre-season tour of the United States, the knowledge and vision he shared over a glass of wine in a Pittsburgh Hotel impressing upon FSG they had made what one called “a phenomenal appointment”.

The Dutchman’s direct talks with Klopp convinced him he was inheriting a team ready to defy pre-season predictions they could not compete for the title.

Edwards and Hughes were also sure. Despite the usual clamour for expensive signings, they withstood pressure to spend to appease the usual emotional reaction.

When Real Sociedad midfielder Martín Zubimendi turned down Liverpool , they opted to wait rather than pursue less-talented players.

“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes,” is another of Edwards’s mantras, stealing a line from former Labour prime minister Tony Blair.

Thus, Slot’s line-up relied on familiarity and freshness for a winning formula.

A new coffee bar at the AXA Training Centre? ☕️

Arne Slot reveals the secrets behind his super start at Liverpool ???? pic.twitter.com/O8bU3jscf6

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 16, 2025

Klopp was the ultimate motivator who weaponised emotion. Slot is an educator inclined towards deduction, his “evidence-based” approach to decision-making echoing that of Gordon and the recruitment team.

Where his predecessor used meetings to stir the blood, making players leave his office feeling 10 feet tall, Slot would make them feel like they are taking a football master’s degree, his use of videos producing “show-and-tell” classes.

More periodisation was introduced in training, Slot more inclined to reduce intensity before match days than increase it. His clever substitutions, bending the shape of games, immediately caught the eye.

Fun Reaction Drill with 3 Players | Liverpool FC Training by Arne Slot ????⚡

Follow @11OnceSport#ReactionDrill#LiverpoolFC#ArneSlot#FootballTraining#SoccerDrills#SpeedAndAgility#dariograbusic#oncesportanalyser#nogomet#trening#football#soccer#coach#trainingpic.twitter.com/5bBj6X4pqz

— Dario Grabusic (@dariograbusic) April 4, 2025

Nobody expected the drop-off at City and Arsenal to allow Liverpool to gallop ahead, but the evidence backed up the expectation that Slot’s team were better than rivals believed.

They had already gone toe-to-toe with City and Arsenal in 2023-24 before injuries stopped momentum. Over the preceding eight years under Klopp, Liverpool’s points-per-game average eclipsed the numbers accumulated in the golden era from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, and the research into Slot showed he had a track record for improving players’ levels.

Slot’s reinvention of Gravenberch as his No 6 was an emblematic tweak, complementing the enduring brilliance of Salah, Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold in a 26-game unbeaten league stretch. The contract wrangles around the three superstars had zero impact.

Ryan Gravenberch’s transformation into a No 6 has been one of the most striking successes of the Slot era - Getty Images/John Powell

For Edwards and the owners, Slot winning the title at his first attempt is validation of the “intellectualisation” of Liverpool led by Gordon since 2012, in which some club staff have jumped from being a nuclear scientist with a PhD in physics from Harvard University to analysing the effectiveness of Feyenoord’s counter-press circa 2021-24.

“Mike [Gordon] appointed the best in class in every department so that people could come and go and the club would still thrive,” said a source.

Edwards is preserving and enhancing that process in an executive transition as spectacular as Klopp’s handover to Slot, although one of his favourite maxims reflects a variation of a quote from an American political strategist, James Carville, who said elections are always decided by the state of the economy.

“It’s the players, stupid,” is Edwards’ application of the rule.

No matter how good the various departments; analytics, scouting, sports science, nutritionists and coaching, without the on-field talent, nobody looks good.

Surround great players with those exceptional at their job, and you are building to win. There is no arrogance within after such an achievement. The troubles post-2020 are a reminder of how quickly the sands can shift.

But such is the self-belief one of the owners has been privately investing anonymously since before the last Premier League win under the pseudonym “title19”. It is with pleasure he acknowledges that it is now out of date and work for “title21” has already begun.

Liverpool’s foundations have never looked so stable.

A year ago, Slot declined the chance to move into Klopp’s old house on what could aptly be translated as Victory Road. He has proved to be perfectly at home celebrating on his predecessor’s Anfield turf instead.

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The six key games in Liverpool’s title charge

Ipswich Town 0 Liverpool 2, August 17, 2024

Diogo Jota (centre) celebrates with Andy Robertson (left) and Luis Diaz after scoring the opener in a 2-0 win at Ipswich - Getty Images/John Powell

Liverpool’s first game of the post-Jürgen Klopp era set the tone for the season. All eyes were on Arne Slot and, after a lacklustre first half, an authoritative substitution (taking off young centre-back Jarell Quansah) and tactical tweak facilitated a comfortable second-half win.

Manchester United 0 Liverpool 3, September 1, 2024

Mohamed Salah tormented Manchester United’s defence to earn a statement win in September - AFP via Getty Images/Paul Ellis

A statement performance in the stadium where Klopp’s Premier League and title ambitions unravelled six months earlier. At full time, Mohamed Salah celebrated his goal and man-of-the-match display with the first of many pleas for a new contract – the ultimate vote of confidence in the new regime.

Liverpool 0 Nottingham Forest 1, September 14, 2024

Defeat by Nottingham Forest was Slot’s first setback but his team responded by embarking on a 26-game unbeaten run - Getty Images/John Powell

Not so much the loss as the reaction to it. Slot’s first setback was immediately after the international break and caused a twinge of doubt. However, his side would remain unbeaten for 26 games, and Forest were more formidable than previously realised.

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Liverpool 6, December 22, 2024

Diaz scored twice in the 6-3 trouncing of Tottenham - Getty Images/Catherine Ivill - AMA

The context made this significant. After Manchester City lost to Aston Villa a day earlier, Liverpool had an opportunity to put 12 points between themselves and the champions, having played a game fewer. An emphatic win in London ended Pep Guardiola’s title hopes and established Slot’s side as favourites.

Brentford 0 Liverpool 2, January 18, 2025

Darwin Núñez responded to his critics with two injury-time goals to see off Brentford - PA/Adam Davy

A Liverpool wobble was anticipated as this fixture began a sequence of demanding away games. The prospect of the gap to Arsenal being reduced to two points was real. But Darwin Núñez scored twice in injury time, extending the lead to six after Arsenal failed to beat Villa.

Manchester City 0 Liverpool 2, February 23, 2025

Goals from Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai against Manchester City edged Liverpool closer to title glory - Getty Images/Alex Pantling

A day after Arsenal lost at home against West Ham United, Liverpool comfortably defeated the champions at the Etihad Stadium as Slot’s side emerged from their most demanding run with an 11-point lead. After the controlled performance, neutrals considered it a matter of when, not if, Liverpool would be champions.