Thomas Tuchel: The Making of Paris Saint-Germain’s Great Hope

In February 2001, Mainz, who were struggling in the second division of German football, made a tough decision and gave the coaching reins to an untested Jürgen Klopp, who formerly played for the club as a centre-half. This was a team on the wrong end of the table and giving the coaching job to a 33-year-old with little experience was a massive risk.

Fast forward seven years and this turned out to be an inspired call. Klopp left his role in June 2008 for the more fashionable Borussia Dortmund and he had a gleaming reputation: in his time there, it was widely regarded that he was arguably the greatest coach in Mainz’s history, taking them up to the Bundesliga.

That gave the Mainz hierarchy to make more tough decisions in the future. If it worked out successfully once, it could certainly happen again. In his time there, Klopp laid the foundations for the future by stabilizing Mainz.

After leaving them for great success in Dortmund, his former club would go down the same route, giving the role of the head coach to an emerging Thomas Tuchel, a 35-year-old who had previous coaching experience with youth teams, in August 2009. His journey to this point was unlike Klopp’s, but his impact was perhaps even greater than the now Liverpool coach.