Top 6 stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club

Top 6 stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club. Klopp has seen many of his best players move away from the club.

For some, that was their big breakthrough, but most of them, now live to regret that decision.

At Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, Jurgen Klopp has been forced to sell some of his best players and one such example is Robert Lewandowski.

The Pole has been a huge hit but many of the other stars who left either Dortmund or Liverpool under Klopp have gone on to flop at their next club.

We take a look at the Top 6 stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club.

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6. Emre Can: Stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club

Liverpool signed Emre Can in 2014 when Brendan Rodgers was the manager and in his first season with the club, he predominantly played in defence. After Jurgen Klopp took over, Can was moved to his preferred midfield role and played a key role in Liverpool’s run to the Europa League final. 

The German featured regularly for the Reds during the 2016/17 and 2017/18 season under Klopp in midfield but he refused to extend his contract and joined Juventus on a free transfer in the summer of 2018. 

In his first season with Juventus, he started only 22 games in all competitions because of the competition for places in the Juventus midfield. Juve bolstered their midfield this summer by signing Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot, and that has made things worse for Can.

He was left out of the Serie A club’s Champions League squad and he hasn’t taken the news lightly.  Liverpool replaced him with Fabinho and the Brazilian is now one of the first names in the starting XI.

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5. Nuri Sahin: Stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club

Nuri Sahin is a product of the Borussia Dortmund academy and he was a crucial member of Klopp’s side that won the league title in 2010/11. In fact, he was named the Bundesliga Player of the Season for the role he played in Dortmund’s success. 

The Turk signed for Real Madrid during the summer transfer window of 2011 after months of speculation but an injury sidelined him for a significant period and he played just ten times for the club in his debut season. 

Sahin signed for Liverpool on loan for the 2012/13 season but his stay in the Premier League was cut short midway through and he joined Borussia Dortmund on another loan deal before signing for the club permanently in 2014.

He struggled with injuries and form in his second stint with the club and played just 38 league games in final four seasons before joining Werder Bremen in 2018. 

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4. Shinji Kagawa: Stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club

Shinji Kagawa signed for Klopp’s Dortmund in 2010 for just €350,000 and in two seasons, he played 71 games, scored 29 goals, assisted 16 more and was named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season in both seasons. 

The Japanese international signed for Manchester United in the summer of 2012 and huge things were expected of him. He won the league title in his debut season but played only 26 games in all competitions. The following season, under David Moyes, he played 30 games and didn’t find the back of the net once. 

In 2014, Kagawa returned to Dortmund and he went on to score 31 goals in 145 appearances but his second stint was nowhere as successful as the first one. He spent the second half of the 2018/19 season on loan at Besiktas before joining Segunda Division club Real Zaragoza on a permanent deal this summer. 

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3. Mario Gotze: Stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club

Many current superstars were groomed by Jurgen Klopp at a young age and arguably the crown jewel is Mario Gotze who made his first-team debut at Dortmund under Klopp. Gotze went on to score 31 goals from midfield in only 116 appearances at Dortmund, won three trophies during that period including two league titles and won the prestigious Golden Boy award in 2011. 

In 2013, prior to Dortmund’s Champions League semifinal clash against Real Madrid, it was announced that Gotze would join rivals Bayern Munich and it was his desire to work under Guardiola that urged him to move.

He scored 15 goals each in his first two seasons with the Bavarian club but he was never an indispensable member of the starting XI. In his third season with Bayern, he struggled with injuries and played only 21 games and the following summer, he returned to Dortmund but Klopp had left the club and had joined Liverpool. 

In his first season after returning to Dortmund, he was diagnosed with a metabolic illness which kept him out for several months. Even after returning from injury, he has not been able to hit the heights he achieved under Klopp. Now, he’s a squad member rather than a key first-team player. 

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2. Philippe Coutinho: Stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club

Philippe Coutinho was a key player under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and in the 2017/18 season, the Liverpool fans were keen to see the quartet of Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah play together. However, Coutinho tried to force a move to Barcelona and he eventually got his wish in January 2018. 

Coutinho started well at Barcelona but he struggled to nail down a starting spot or make any significant impact in his first full season with the club. He only scored five goals in 34 La Liga games last season. This summer, Barcelona offered Coutinho to several top European clubs but no club was willing to sign him permanently for Barcelona’s asking price. In the end, he was loaned out to Bayern Munich. 

In May 2017, Klopp advised Coutinho to stay at Liverpool and in hindsight, it was one the Brazilian should have heeded. The German said: 

“Stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour. Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more.”

Liverpool reinvested the money the got from Coutinho’s sale and signed players like Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Fabinho among others who were key to their Champions League triumph in 2019. 

1. Sadio Mane: Stars managed by Jurgen Klopp who flopped at new club

When Mohamed Salah’s contract was up for renewal, all eyes were on Liverpool’s other elite striker, who shocked everyone by making the shocking choice at the conclusion of their quadruple-chasing 2021–22 season.

Mane departed Anfield for a bargain £27million amount as his contract was about to expire. Although he wasn’t a direct replacement for Robert Lewandowski, it was hoped that he would have the same kind of impact on Bayern’s forward line despite not being a like-for-like replacement.

That’s not exactly how things have turned out. Neither Julian Nagelsmann nor Thomas Tuchel were able to make Mane feel at home, and he has only managed one goal since the World Cup as Bayern has surprisingly failed to defend their Bundesliga title.

Following a physical disagreement with Leroy Sane, Mane’s future in Bavaria may already be written on the wall. He is “not expected” to be a member of Tuchel’s team for the upcoming campaign, according to Sky Germany.

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