Danny Murphy insists that, irrespective of what Jurgen Klopp does for the remainder of his time in football, his legacy at Liverpool will ‘never’ be tainted.
The former Reds manager is a deity on Merseyside, but his decision to join Red Bull as their Global Head of Soccer from January 2025 has immediately sparked a massive backlash in Germany, where the energy drinks giant is detested by many Bundesliga followers.
As German football reporter Constantin Eckner explained on talkSPORT, clubs such as RB Leipzig are highly unpopular among fans of the sport in that country due to their heavy commercial investment, which is at odds with the more communal ownership model to which the likes of Borussia Dortmund remain true.
Despite the understandable furore in Klopp’s homeland, where Eckner explains that many feel he’s ‘destroying his legacy’, Murphy believes that it won’t impact upon the 57-year-old’s reputation among Liverpool fans because of what he achieved in his reign at Anfield.
Murphy insists Klopp’s Liverpool legacy remains sound
The former Reds midfielder stated: “Constantin, I’ve just got to tell you that although you say he’s destroying his legacy, it doesn’t matter what he does. At Liverpool he’ll never destroy his legacy, so he’s fine there, even if the Dortmund people are a little bit miffed.”
There might be many LFC supporters who are opposed to the multi-club model that Red Bull have implemented at Leipzig, Salzburg and other teams around the world, with the firm widely accused of disrespecting the histories of the clubs that they’ve acquired.
However, we agree with Murphy when he says that Klopp’s newest career decision won’t tarnish his hallowed name on the red half of Merseyside, where feelings about the energy drinks company aren’t as intensely held as in Germany.
Even if some Reds don’t necessarily like the 57-year-old’s new role, he’ll still be a legend in these parts for everything that he did at Anfield.
You can view Murphy’s comments on Klopp below (from 8:35), via talkSPORT on YouTube:
This is only really a local issue for German football. Not really something that matters with regards to Liverpool.
But from the outside it looks to me like they are paying Klopp a mega amount of Euros for not a lot. He’s not going to be managing any of the teams, he’s essentially a highly paid consultant.