Jurgen Klopp is continually linked with the Germany job at any and all of their lows points, but his claimed salary is a huge barrier for the national team.
The Liverpool manager is always thrown into the mix when names for a new German boss emerge, and he, along with his agent, continually distance themselves.
It does not stop the predictable rumour mill, even when Klopp is contracted at Anfield, and now the vice-president of the German FA, Ralph-Uwe Schaffert, has explained why a move would be prohibitive.
At the heart of it, it is Klopp’s salary – which he could choose to lower – but it would require a significant pay cut from his current earnings, as Schaffert has now revealed.
“The DFB can’t pay Jurgen Klopp at all, he earns a fixed 24 million a year, plus 26 million guaranteed advertising income – so 50 million euros,” Schaffert said in a recent interview, as quoted by Focus.
That combined salary of €50 million (£43.3m) that Schaffert claims would include a handful of associations with brands like Adidas and Peloton, and it is no surprise the German national team would balk at such a figure.
We’re quite happy about that, not that Klopp would ever leave for Germany before his contract at Liverpool was up!
“The next national coach will no longer get what Hansi Flick got – because the DFB can no longer afford it,” Schaffert continued.
“You hardly have a Bundesliga coach who earns less than a million. It’s all gone so crazy that it’s almost impossible to reduce it.”
Julian Nagelsmann is the current German manager, he was appointed back in September, and his salary “has already become less,” says Schaffert.
We will no doubt hear more Klopp and German links in the future but take them with a pinch of salt, he is contracted at Anfield until 2026 and let’s be honest, we all hope it will be for longer than that!