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Jürgen Klopp Officially Takes Over As Manager Of EPL Side Liverpool

Jürgen Klopp has agreed to become Liverpool's manager on a £7M ($10.7M)-a-year deal and will arrive on Merseyside on Thursday after flying in from Dortmund, according to Simon Hughes of the London INDEPENDENT. Klopp will be unveiled at Anfield Friday morning at 10am, where he will be accompanied by Liverpool Chair Tom Werner, who is expected to land in the U.K. Thursday evening, having traveled from his base in L.A. Klopp will bring with him his own backroom team of Zeljko Buvac and Peter Krawietz, colleagues at his former club, Borussia Dortmund. The appointments "beckoned the end of Sean O'Driscoll's brief spell as assistant manager" and while first team coach Gary McAllister has had his role filled too, "the Scot could be offered a different position within the club." Fitness coach Ryland Morgans remains on the staff but Head of Performance Glen Driscoll and Head of Opposition Analysis Chris Davies will depart under the new regime (INDEPENDENT, 10/8). In London, Andy Hunter wrote the the deal marks a "significant coup" for Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group, which has convinced the two-time Bundesliga champion to "abandon his sabbatical from the game after four months." FSG had previously failed to tempt Klopp from Dortmund in '10 and '12 but the "latest approach was the first concrete offer that has appealed since he ended his seven-year spell at the Westfalenstadion." The former Mainz coach had been touted as Pep Guardiola's potential successor at Bayern Munich next summer. But "with uncertainty over whether Guardiola will extend his contract at the Allianz Arena, and whether Bayern regard Klopp as their preferred replacement," he has taken the "challenge of reviving Liverpool's fortunes" (GUARDIAN, 10/8). The BBC's Ben Smith reported Klopp will have to work within the existing structure and what has become known as Anfield's "transfer committee." It is the group that plans and carries out transfer strategy and up until Sunday night consisted of former Manager Brendan Rodgers, scouts Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter, the man in charge of analysis, Michael Edwards, FSG's Anfield representative Mike Gordon and CEO Ian Ayre (BBC, 10/8).

CREDIT DUE: In London, Chris Bascombe wrote Liverpool is "not hunting replicas or polishing the CVs of wannabes" in '15. The club has bagged itself "the real Jürgen Klopp." Here is a bona fide "A-list manager." If there had been a vacancy at Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea or in Manchester during the past three months, "Klopp would have been interviewed." For Liverpool to lure Klopp to Merseyside is the club's "biggest coup since Rafa Benítez left La Liga's champions for Anfield" in '04. It is "perhaps even more satisfying because many supporters feared the days of attracting a coach of such clout were gone, certainly for the foreseeable future." It is "unfashionable to praise Premier League owners." Whatever happens in the next three years, "there must be an acknowledgement FSG have got this appointment spectacularly right." There have "been plenty of just causes for criticism of FSG as they approach their five-year anniversary." But suggestions they are "only in it for the money" and have "no emotional investment in the club are especially unwarranted and grossly inaccurate" (TELEGRAPH, 10/8).

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