"This is now the third elimination in a row so we are not part of the first class teams any more." That's Julian Nagelsmann speaking after Germany lost on penalties to Paraguay in the Round of 32. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of his own tenure — and it's the kind of admission that keeps a certain name alive in every conversation about the job.
Jurgen Klopp, according to The Mirror citing The Telegraph, is open to taking charge of Germany if the opportunity formally materialises. He's not banging on doors. But he's not locking them either.
Asked directly about the links after the Paraguay defeat — while working as a pundit at the tournament — Klopp said: "I understand that my name is being mentioned. But this isn't the moment to talk about it and certainly not with me." Carefully chosen words. The kind that neither kill a story nor confirm it.
What Klopp actually wants
He left Liverpool in 2024, citing genuine exhaustion after years at the top of club management. Since January 2025 he's been Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull, overseeing sporting operations across their network rather than standing on a touchline every weekend. A deliberate step back.
The reported sticking point is telling: Klopp is reportedly unenthusiastic about spending every free weekend criss-crossing Germany and Europe watching club matches in person. That scouting obligation is baked into most international management roles. Whether the German FA would restructure it to accommodate him is genuinely unclear — but given the alternative is fielding another press conference about a third consecutive tournament disaster, flexibility suddenly looks attractive.
Managing at a World Cup is described as one of Klopp's remaining ambitions. Germany, a four-time world champion reduced to a Round of 32 exit, gives him exactly that stage — if they qualify, if the relationship with the DFB gets that far, and if the conditions suit him.
Nagelsmann isn't going anywhere — yet
None of this matters immediately. Nagelsmann is contracted until Euro 2028, hosted across England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, and he has explicitly ruled out resigning. At 38, he's not a man who looks at one bad tournament and reaches for the exit. He inherited a side already searching for consistency, but the results at the last three major tournaments have steadily eroded any goodwill buffer he had.
Germany's odds across international markets have been drifting for a reason. Three successive early exits aren't a blip — they're a pattern, and whoever manages the rebuild carries serious risk alongside the prestige.
Klopp's presence in the background changes the political calculation inside the DFB. His reputation built at Dortmund and Liverpool, his identity as a German coach who genuinely understands elite football — it makes him the obvious answer every time a journalist asks the question. And right now, the questions aren't slowing down.
Nagelsmann said it himself: Germany are no longer first class. That's the job description sitting on the table.
