Inside Klopp and Buvac clash as secret Arsenal meeting led to sudden exit

For 17 years, Jurgen Klopp worked side-by-side with Zeljko Buvac, often described as 'The Brain' of the trio which also included coach Peter Krawietz.

Between them, they helped take Mainz first to the Bundesliga and then into Europe, before winning two Bundesliga titles and reaching the Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund.

When Klopp switched Dortmund for Liverpool, Buvac also made the pilgrimage to Merseyside, continuing their working relationship in the early part of his reign.

Then in 2018, on the eve of their Champions League semi-final second leg with Roma, Liverpool announced Buvac had left the club.

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In a short statement, it was suggested the coach was stepping away for "personal reasons" with no more information provided.

Initially only for the remainder of the season, Buvac would never return to the Anfield dugout, going into the football wilderness for more than a year before returning as Dynamo Moscow's sporting director in February 2020.

There has been only snippets of information regarding his exit, with Mirror Sport revealing the two had a row after Buvac had been approached by Arsenal.

Then sporting director Sven Mislintat was reportedly eyeing Buvac for the vacant manager's job and Klopp was said to be incensed that he was left in the dark regarding the talks.

In a rare interview at the end of last year, Buvac, 60, offered a telling response when asked about his relationship with Jurgen Klopp.

As the lights flickered in the studio, he joked: "It's a sign that this isn't a good question! Everyone asks how and why, but people live together for 30 years and then they break up. It happens."

Little is known about his two-and-a-half year stint at Anfield, with Pep Ljinders filling the void superbly as the Reds lifted the Champions League and Premier League in their first two seasons without the Bosnian.

But he suggested that he played a major part in Liverpool's resurgence, claiming that to all intents and purposes he was as much of the manager as Klopp himself.

"I did the job of a manager, except speaking in public and giving interviews," he explained. "Apart from that, I had all the functions and tried to influence my team as much as I could to help them succeed. But I didn't need that kind of attention.

What do Liverpool need to do in January in order to win the title?

"I don't want to be a manager now. If Barcelona calls me, then I'll think about it, but otherwise no.

"You say I'm here just to stay occupied and wait for a better chance.

"But if you knew what kind of offers I had rejected during the pause in my career, you wouldn't have said that. But I won't tell you which clubs."