Klopp confidant Heidel says friend is 'perfect' for Germany job

Mainz head of sport Christian Heidel, the man who first gave Jürgen Klopp a coaching role, believes his long-time friend is "made" for the job of Germany boss.

Klopp wants the position and is due to hold talks with the German Football Federation (DFB) this week to wrap up an agreement.

"Jürgen Klopp’s greatest strength is that he can deal with people. He’s a people person," Heidel told various German media on Sunday.

"With the national team, it mainly comes down to two things: you have to pick the right players and you have to be able to inspire these players and, in external communication, you have to inspire people," Heidel added. "If anyone can do that, it’s Jürgen Klopp."

The 63-year-old Heidel appointed Klopp as Mainz coach in 2001 after he had retired as a player there.

He impressed, helping the unfashionable club gain promotion to the Bundesliga where they held their own and even played in Europe until relegation in 2007.

Klopp stayed one more season but failed to win promotion. He had proven his abilities enough and joined Borussia Dortmund, going on to win the 2011 and 2012 Bundesliga titles. He then went to Liverpool and scooped one Premier League crown and the Champions League.

Heidel and Klopp have been close confidants ever since his Mainz days.

"And I’ll say this outside of that friendship: he would definitely be the best choice that is even possible (for the Germany job)," Heidel reckoned.

The Mainz official also considers Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned after Germany's World Cup last-32 exit to Paraguay, to be an outstanding coach, but said: "I would say empathy, charisma, the emotional side, that’s not necessarily Julian’s great strength.

"But it is Jürgen Klopp’s great strength. That’s why I also believe he could be a perfect Germany coach."

Heidel is convinced that "huge euphoria" would break out if Klopp takes the job.

"But the fact is, he is coming to a federation that is currently anything but successful. And that someone comes in and, from one day to the next, everything is suddenly good - that will not happen, not even with Jürgen Klopp," he warned.

At the World Cup, it had been clear "that we are light-years away from the world elite. How many world-class players do we have? I think these are points Jürgen Klopp is thinking about," Heidel added.

A coach is one building block "but no more than that," he said.

Neuendorf's birthday not what he expected

German Football Federation president Bernd Neuendorf turns 65 on Monday but celebrations will give way to a hard week of work as he tries to seal a deal for Klopp to take over the men's national team.

Any party will be slightly muted by Germany's early exit from a third straight World Cup and because he is due to fly back to the United States in the coming days to talk directly with Klopp about taking over from Nagelsmann.

The previous coach resigned after the penalties defeat to Paraguay in the last 32 in Foxborough, Massachusetts last Monday.

Sources close to the German Football Federation (DFB) said its president Neuendorf was looking forward to a birthday serenade at Germany's World Cup base in North Carolina, but instead they went out a week earlier and he has been left with a crisis to manage.

Two years ago, on the eve of his 63rd birthday, Germany suffered a bitter 2-1 extra-time defeat to Spain in the quarter-finals of the home European Championship.

This time things are even worse.

On his return to the US to meet Klopp, who is working as a World Cup pundit for MagentaTV, DFB sources say Neuendorf will not attend any matches or FIFA business and will concentrate on sorting out a deal with the former Dortmund and Liverpool boss.

Klopp is contracted to franchise club group Red Bull as their Global Head of Soccer until 2029, but reports say he has a clause in his contract allowing him to take the Germany job.

Bundesliga president and DFB vice president Hans-Joachim Watzke is coming along to the US given he knows Klopp so well from his time as chief executive at Dortmund.