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Jurgen Klopp could easily have stepped back and let the millions from punditry keep coming in. The charisma king in the dugout, as expected, made the move to television with complete ease for the World Cup, alongside Thomas Muller - the former Germany forward whose liking for Reels suggests that a permanent shift from footballer to entertainer is not too far away.

Still, Klopp’s personality is better suited to a more important corner of German football.

As the side nurses its wounds after a miserable last-32 World Cup exit to Paraguay, the wait to win a knockout-stage game since the 2014 triumph continues. Julian Nagelsmann failed to lift the national team, just as Hansi Flick had done before him - both tactically sharp and objectively decent managers, but that is where the praise ends. They were missing a certain... aura.

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Jurgen Klopp speaks to former Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann while a pundit at the World Cup (Getty)

Klopp does not suffer from that problem. At all three clubs he has managed, he has left as a near-mythical figure, and for good reason - everywhere he has gone, he has ushered in a fresh era of success. He took Mainz into the Bundesliga for the first time in their history; he delivered back-to-back titles for Borussia Dortmund after seven years of failing to break into the top four; and at Liverpool, he woke up a sleeping giant and won everything available, including the first Premier League title in 30 years.

His rock’n’roll brand of football makes every team he coaches easy to support. “There are 11 nations ahead of us in the rankings - but we have to make beating them possible, with the way we play football,” Klopp promised at his unveiling press conference after being officially named as Nagelsmann’s successor. But after years of dullness at the German helm, his presence alone will bring energy to a stalled system.

Klopp has been Germany’s dream appointment for a decade. He was imagined as Joachim Low’s successor, taking over the World Cup-winning team Low built and keeping them at the summit. But that has never really been Klopp’s way - at no point in his career has he arrived for a maintenance job; it has always been about rebuilding and reinventing. That is why the long-running talk of a move to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich never quite felt right for him.

Now that Germany need him, he has emerged from his Red Bull-backed break. “I’m not doing this job for myself. I’m doing it for you,” he said, leaning into the “messiah” image.

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New Germany manager Klopp is tasked with another rebuild (Reuters)

He is not the same man who once ruled German football at the Westfalenstadion; for one thing, he now has new teeth and new eyes. He also has a much larger trophy cabinet fixed to the wall. Yet his personality remains almost unchanged - only now it comes with the extra swagger that success naturally brings.

That personality also brings a certain unpredictability, a man who is never afraid to upset people. He is by no means universally adored; rival supporters grew weary of his complaints, excuses and the sense that referees treated him favourably, while his fair share of touchline outbursts were excused because that is “who he is”. More recently, he faced a strong backlash and accusations of being a “sell-out” in his homeland after taking the head of global soccer role at Red Bull, with German fans loathing the organisation’s multi-club model and its effective bypassing of the 50+1 rule, which protects supporter voting rights at clubs.

So his arrival in Germany was not all hugs and smiles, and he delivered a warning to the country’s press and public: he is not going to accept the kind of treatment that has haunted the job for 12 years.

“I’m taking this job even though I’ve seen how you’ve treated Julian Nagelsmann,” he said bluntly. “I’m taking it even though I’ve seen how you’ve treated Thomas Tuchel.

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Klopp bluntly assured he would leave the role if poorly treated (AP)

“The day you don’t want me anymore, I’m gone - without any severance pay. If you say tomorrow that he’s s***, I’m gone. Not just one person, it would have to be more than that. If the DFB says he’s s***, I’m gone.

“If you behave badly and don’t leave my family in peace, I’m gone. Criticise me if something doesn’t work. I’m happy to work on it. It’s all about the job.”

That straight-talking approach will filter through to the dressing room and the training ground as well. Germany’s inability to handle the pressure of knockout football points to a gloomy change in the culture around the team. Anything short of a “mentality monster” will surely not survive under his rule.

But Klopp will not be able to restore Germany by himself. He will assemble his coaching staff around former Liverpool assistants Pep Lijnders and Peter Krawietz in an attempt to recreate his Anfield success, with Lijnders having just spent a season alongside Klopp’s old rival Pep Guardiola. There had been dreams of that rivalry being revived on the international stage amid Guardiola’s talks with Italy, only for the Catalan to apparently turn down Paolo Maldini and company.

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Will Klopp and Pep Guardiola meet again on the international stage? For now, it’s unlikely (Getty)

Taking his country back to the top of world football feels like the fitting end point to Klopp’s glittering career. Whether he manages that or merely covers over the cracks, this will be his last job in the dugout.

“Jurgen Klopp doesn’t have a career after the national team. Ideally, this is the highlight of my career.”

When Germany meet traditional rivals the Netherlands in his first match in September, we will get the first hint of whether this particular Klopp fairytale can come true. At Euro 2028, in the country he conquered as Reds boss, his legacy will be on the line.

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