Klopp ‘making progress’ towards Liverpool exit with German ‘in frequent contact’ with Barcelona chief | OneFootball

Jurgen Klopp has been linked with a summer move to Barcelona

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is closing in on a summer move to Barcelona with Joan Laporta confident he can lure him to Catalonia, according to reports in Spain.

The Reds has overseen eight years of success at Anfield since leaving Borussia Dortmund in 2015 to take on the role with Liverpool winning the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup during that time.

Klopp has been unlucky that Pep Guardiola’s outstanding Manchester City side have been competing for titles with them at the same time with the Citizens winning five of the last six Premier Leagues.

Liverpool may well have won more titles in that time if it hadn’t been for City’s dominance with the Reds reaching 92 points in 2021/22 and 97 points in 2018/19 without winning the title.

Klopp, who suffered slightly at Liverpool last season, signed a new contract in April 2022 which could keep him at Anfield in the summer of 2026 but reports in Spain claim the Liverpool boss’ head could be turning.

Spanish publication Nacional insists that Klopp and Laporta are ‘making progress in the construction of the new Barcelona’ with the pair ‘in frequent contact’.

Contacts between Barcelona president Laporta and Liverpool boss Klopp ‘have existed, and continue to occur so that he arrives at Barca in the summer’.

There are rumours that Xavi could be dismissed because of poor results with Barcelona currently nine points adrift of La Liga leaders Girona following their 1-1 draw against Valencia at the weekend.

And Klopp is ‘best placed’ to take over from the Spaniard in the summer with ‘fans’ patience is beginning to run out’ and Barcelona ‘drawing up a list of their possible replacements’.

The German is seen as ‘an expert in rebuilding teams in low times’ and ‘his mission would be to do the same at the Camp Nou’.

Laporta ‘has a very high regard for him’ as he looks to ‘clean up the locker room, and get the most out of their players’ with Barcelona spending a number of years in decline.

When asked in 2020 if he’d ever move back to Germany, Klopp told SWR Sport: “Definitely to live, after my career. Most likely even to Mainz.”

Before adding: “Four more years at Liverpool, then do nothing for a year. [After that] maybe a club, a national team or nothing at all.

“[I will definitely do] what I want…. what I want to do. In five years the world can look very different again.”