Jurgen Klopp could take a break from football after announcing his decision to leave Liverpool.

Friday's shock announcement that the German coach, 56, is heading for pastures new in the summer comes after little warning that he was even considering his future.

Klopp has now spoken of his diminishing energy levels for the job and its stresses and strains after over eight years in the Anfield hotseat.

Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso has been installed as the early bookmakers' favourite to succeed Klopp but there is also the question of what the former Borussia Dortmund boss will do himself.

After leaving the German giants, he took only three months off before being snapped up by Liverpool in the aftermath of Brendan Rodgers' sacking.

However, his previous comments suggest he will take more time out on this occasion with a sabbatical likely - and perhaps retirement on the cards.

Speaking to German outlet SportBuzzer in August 2020, he declared: "I'll take a year off and ask myself if I miss football. If I say no, then that will be the end of coach Jurgen Klopp.

"If one day I am no longer a coach, there is one thing I will not miss: the brutal tension immediately before the game."

He backed up those comments in a later interview with Einfach Fussbal: "When I leave Liverpool, I won't take a new job the next day. That's for sure. I will take a one-year break after Liverpool."

Travelling the world watching football while he is still fit and healthy is certainly something Klopp could spend his time off pursuing, as he told German podcaster Matthias Hielscher last summer.

"I’m under contract with Liverpool until 2026," he said. "And I want to see that out, then take a gap year. That could be the end, but who knows how I’ll feel after a year?

"That’s why I’m leaving the door open. I would like to travel a lot, but not just being pushed around in a wheelchair or walking with a cane. I can watch football from anywhere. That’s why I won’t do the job forever..."

Klopp has previously been linked with the manager roles at Bayern Munich and Germany but neither are open at this time, with Thomas Tuchel not long ago installed in Bavaria and Julian Nagelsmann preparing to lead his country out as hosts of Euro 2024.

The prospect of returning to England with a different club is certainly off the table.

"If you ask me, ‘Will you ever work as a manager again?’ I would say now no," he told the club website on Friday.

"But I don’t know obviously how that will feel because I never had the situation. What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool, 100 per cent. That’s not possible. My love for this club, my respect for the people is too big. I couldn’t. I couldn’t for a second think about it. There’s no chance.

"This is part of my life, we are part of the family, we feel home here. There’s no chance to do that. But all the rest, will I ever work again? Of course, I know myself, I cannot just sit around. I will find something else maybe to do. But I will not manage a club or a country at least for a year, that’s not possible, I cannot do that and I don’t want to. That’s all."