Speaking with German journalist Michael Ebert of Kicker Magazine, Christian Heidel, the sporting CEO of FSV Mainz 05, shared his thoughts on this week’s major announcement regarding Jürgen Klopp’s switch to the RB system.

Christian Heidel, the sporting manager of FSV Mainz 05, is friends and neighbors with popular German trainer Jürgen Klopp, therefore he is always the first to know about his future career ambitions. Accordingly, Heidel acknowledged that he was aware of the news that shocked the German football community this week in an interview with Michael Ebert of Kicker Magazine.

In an interview that was printed in Kicker’s print edition on Thursday, Heidel said to Ebert, “We’ve been spending a lot of time together, so I knew already. He didn’t want to go back to the sidelines, but he also wanted to stay in football.” He now has the chance to mix the two. He’s going to explore, travel, grow, and learn. He claimed that it was the ideal fit for him in many ways.”

Heidel stressed that, despite Klopp’s recent public humiliation in the German media (particularly from Kicker), he continues to be a traditional club manager and is critical of the RB system in many ways. Despite his complaints, the 61-year-old had to admit that RB’s position in the present world football scene would not be altered.

Heidel stated, “RB is a part of the football industry. Klopp is aware of the chatter, yet he still goes against the flow. It’s not required that you like it. Although I agree with some of RB’s critics, we won’t go back in time. ‘Football Romanticism’ was another message I received. But in reality, that was a long time ago.

Heidel also mentioned that the fact that “RB pay careful attention to the quality of their footballing personnel” has helped several important Mainz players, like Marco Rose and Sandro Schwarz, land positions in the RB system.