Home Manchester United Hamann: Klopp success ‘benefitted’ Rangnick in United appointment
Date published: Friday 25th February 2022 10:00 – Jason Soutar
Dietmar Hamann believes Jurgen Klopp’s success at Liverpool has paved the way for German coaches to come to the Premier League.
Klopp joined the Merseyside club during the 2015/16 season following Brendan Rodgers’ sacking.
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He has become a club legend during his time at Anfield, winning the Champions League, Premier League and Club World Cup.
And former Reds midfielder Hamann believes Klopp has given the likes of Thomas Tuchel and Ralf Rangnick the chance to thrive in the Premier League.
“There were other managers in lower leagues – Farke at Norwich, Wagner at Huddersfield – who got them promoted to the Premier League,” Hamann said (quotes via Liverpool Echo).
“If it wasn’t for Klopp, I don’t think some of the other guys would have got a chance. Tuchel certainly would have after his periods at PSG and in Dortmund, but I think some others have benefited.”
Hamann continued: “We’ve seen it in the past with French managers, with Spanish managers, Portuguese managers, if it all goes well and people come looking.
“Also, to a certain extent Rangnick, because if you look at his CV, he wouldn’t strike you as a Man United manager and obviously, it remains to be seen whether he keeps his job, but yes, I think a lot of German managers benefited from Klopp.”
When asked if he ever expected to see the day where German managers were flourishing at some of England’s biggest clubs, Hamann replied: “No, I don’t think anybody would have foreseen that, and funnily enough Klopp and Tuchel made the first steps at Mainz, so Mainz produced two of the world’s best trainers.
“They both won the FIFA Manager of the Year in world football. It’s astonishing that a small club like Mainz, who do a great job in the Bundesliga, produced two of the best managers.
“I think we had a bit of a drought for a while, we had a lot of foreign managers here in Germany, but now the Germans go to England and go all over the world. It’s good to see, but then again, these things go in cycles, I don’t think in three, five, eight years’ time we will be in the same situation.
“Maybe we will talk about three Spanish, or three French, or even three English managers. An English manager hasn’t won the league since Harold Wilkinson with Leeds, which is very strange. It goes in cycles. It’s a great moment for German football, for German culture, for German managers, I don’t think it will last forever.”