The next Klopp or Tuchel? Liverpool manager tips young Bundesliga coach for success
Stefan Bienkowski
- Updated: 26 Jun 2021 15:52 BST
- 5 min read
Jurgen Klopp has suggested that Mainz head coach Bo Svensson could be the next big football manager to come out of the Bundesliga club, after him and Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.
The current Liverpool manager first made his name as a young coach at Mainz, despite very little experience other than an average playing career.
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One year after Klopp left Mainz to join Borussia Dortmund as their new head coach, the small German club then decided to appoint an unknown youth coach by the name of Thomas Tuchel as their new head coach.
Now, seven years after Tuchel departed Mainz, Klopp believes the next top coach of tomorrow has arrived in the form of Svensson, who took over the reins of the mid-table side in January of this year.
In an interview with BILD, the 54-year-old manager was full of praise for the Christian Heidel, the sporting director that uncovered both Klopp and Tuchel.
“Absolutely,” said the Liverpool boss when asked if Heidel has a specific eye for managerial talent.
“Not everyone makes the player Jurgen Klopp a coach, or a Thomas Tuchel from the youth. And now he's knocking out the next one with Bo Svensson.
“Madness! With Bo [Svensson] I have now created the basis for the story because I brought him as a player from Gladbach.”
How good has Svensson been at Mainz?
The 41-year-old Danish coach has picked up a huge amount of praise in Germany over the last six months following the manner in which he managed to turn Mainz’s season around in the Bundesliga.
When Svensson arrived at the Opel Arena in January, Mainz were sitting second bottom in the German top-flight, with just six points from 14 games.
Despite failing to win any of his first three games, Svensson’s tactics then clicked into gear and his side went on to three of their next 18 league games and ended up finishing twelfth in the division and perfectly safe from relegation.
