"There's a lot at stake. Whoever takes on the job will have their work cut out for them." Jürgen Klopp said that himself — and he's almost certainly talking about his own future.
The DFB's preferred candidate for the vacant Germany manager role is in advanced talks with the federation, with president Bernd Neuendorf and Bundesliga CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke set to travel to New York this week to finalise terms. Nothing is signed yet, but Klopp has already mapped out what the job would look like — and it includes keeping Rudi Völler around.
"If it were to come to me becoming national team manager, it would be a huge help to have someone there who knows the ropes," Klopp said of the sporting director. "Rudi has his experience of playing, but he also has many years of service within the federation. Which is something I, if I were to take the job, have absolutely no experience of."
The backroom is already taking shape
Klopp's long-term assistants Peter Krawietz and Pepijn Lijnders — both of Liverpool vintage — are expected to follow him into the role, replacing Nagelsmann's entire coaching staff bar goalkeeping coach Andreas Kronenberg. Hannes Wolf, currently DFB Director of Youth Development and a former Dortmund colleague of Klopp's, is also tipped for an expanded role.
His first test would come fast: a UEFA Nations League opener against the Netherlands on 24 September. Germany are in Group A2 alongside Holland, Serbia and Greece — not a soft landing for a new manager still finding his feet at international level.
Klopp is clear-eyed about the scale of the rebuild. Germany have failed to get past the quarterfinals in their last two European Championships and have now suffered three consecutive group-stage exits at World Cups, the latest a round-of-16 humiliation in 2026 that prompted Nagelsmann's exit. "We don't currently have the best players in the world, let alone 200 of them," Klopp admitted bluntly.
Philipp Lahm put it in sharper structural terms: "Across the whole tournament, there has been no stable, structured team performance, no sense of a path that would actually be leading us towards success." For Lahm, Germany have drifted while Argentina, France, Spain and Brazil have built consistent identities. He's right — and Germany's defensive record in 2026, conceding four goals in regular time, underlines exactly how far the rot has spread from what used to be the team's bedrock.
The Red Bull problem
There is one remaining complication. Klopp's contract with Red Bull — where he serves as Head of Global Soccer — runs until 2029 and contains no release clause. The reported solution: rather than paying a transfer fee, Red Bull want Klopp to continue as a brand ambassador even while managing the national team. For a federation already under financial strain from years of early tournament exits, that arrangement is apparently acceptable. Julian Nagelsmann's severance payment, expected to run into the single-digit millions, adds further pressure to the DFB's books.
Klopp's salary in the role is expected to exceed Nagelsmann's €7m per year, though it would represent a step down from the estimated €12m per year he earns at Red Bull. A contract through the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Morocco and Portugal is on the table.
Watzke, who is driving the appointment, left no ambiguity about where Germany stands: "Jürgen is our plan A and we also want to implement our plan A."
The confirmation is expected before this World Cup is even over.
