Pep Guardiola could take inspiration from former adversary Jurgen Klopp after Carlo Ancelotti discussed the ex-Liverpool manager’s real reason for leaving Anfield
It’s not uncommon for managers to take inspiration from one another – and Pep Guardiola could follow Jurgen Klopp’s lead by leaving the Premier League.
That’s after Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti gave his stance on why Klopp opted to trigger his Liverpool exit one year early. The German concluded a highly successful spell of almost nine years at Anfield this summer, during which he ended the Reds’ 30-year wait for Premier League silverware and clinched the Champions League.
Klopp, 56, announced in January that he was parting ways with Liverpool after “running out of energy,” effectively confirming burnout as the cause. Ancelotti knows better than most the rigours of consistently coaching at the elite level, and the Italian offered insight in regards to Klopp’s situation.
“I don’t see any particular news, this has always been our job but the Klopp case is significant,” he told il Giornale. “The continuous pressure, the load of responsibilities become excessive burdens, the obsession takes over. It also happened to Arrigo Sacchi.”
It wasn’t long after Manchester City’s defeat in May’s FA Cup final that reports emerged that Guardiola could step down when his contract at the Etihad expires. The Catalan coach has one season left to run on his current deal, at which point he will have also been managing in England for nine years.
Guardiola, 53, has led City to unprecedented success in his eight years thus far, winning six Premier League titles, a Champions League, two FA Cups, four League Cups and the club’s first European treble. It stands to reason he too should feel fatigued after such prolonged accomplishment, and it wouldn’t be his first time taking a deserved respite.
Following four glorious years at the Barcelona helm, the generational tactician stepped away from coaching in 2012 in favour of a sabbatical. One year passed before he made a much-anticipated return to coaching at Bayern Munich, spending much of his time away in New York City.
Upon confirming his decision to leave Barca despite a record-breaking run of 14 trophies in four years, Guardiola addressed his feelings of fatigue at the time. He described four years on the Barcelona bench as “an eternity” and “very tiring.”
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Managing in Manchester appears to have been a more calming task, or at least the tinkerer has become more adept at coping with the stress of the occupation. Whatever the case may be, the Premier League may be on the cusp of losing a second world-class coaching figure in as many summers.
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