Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been adjudged the Premier League manager of the Season for 2019/20
According to the Premier League’s official website, the 53-year-old became the first German and the first Liverpool manager to win the award, beating former Reds boss Brendan Rodgers, Chelsea’s Frank Lampard and Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder.
Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, who won the award in the past two seasons, was not nominated this year.
Klopp guided Liverpool to their first league title in 30 years and their first in the Premier League era. The Jordan Henderson-captained team registered a tally of 99 points, with only Manchester City’s 100 points being higher in Premier League history.
Liverpool had an impressive Premier League campaign in the recently-concluded season although their form took a dip after the restart, losing to Man City and Arsenal while registering their only winless result at Anfield against Burnley.
Needless to say that Klopp has had an immense impact on Liverpool since taking over from Rodgers in 2015 and has instilled a fighting spirit in the team, one that we’ll be hoping to see a lot more of as the Reds aim to defend their title.
The German won’t let this individual award go to his head and will seek to keep players motivated and grounded for the new season.
We’re seeing the squad slowly return to pre-season training after three weeks off, and will be introduced to Kostas Tsimikas for the first time.
The Greek has finally solved the back-up left-back issue and now Klopp will seek to address further problems among the rest of the side. Dejan Lovren has left and now Klopp has just three centre-backs to call upon.
His ability to motivate and think on his feet is part of the reason why he was named manager of the year, and he joins Trent Alexander-Arnold on the list of Liverpool men honoured by the Premier League.