Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann believes Jurgen Klopp will leave the club within the next four years to take a break for management or manage Germany.
Klopp has gained iconic status at the club having led the team to Premier League and Champions League success over the course of the last two seasons.
The German penned a new four-and-a-half year deal at Anfield in December last year to keep him at the club until 2024.
But writing in his column for German newspaper SportBild, Hamann warned his former side they should begin preparing for his compatriot's exit because he believes he will not be at the club for the second half of this decade..
'It is astonishing that Jurgen Klopp has already been a coach at Liverpool for five years,' Hamann said. 'But when you are successful, time goes by faster.
'Since the Champions League victory against Tottenham in 2019 and the first title this summer for Liverpool after 30 years, this coach is a living legend.
'I would wish for Liverpool that he would still be the coach in 2025.
'But either Klopp will be lying on the beach, or he will be the coach of the German national team.'
The comments come after Klopp admitted in July that he plans on returning to his home country when his contract expires in four years' time.
Speaking to German publication SWR Sport, Klopp was asked whether he will return to Germany. He replied: 'Definitely to live, after my career. Most likely even to Mainz.'
When pushed on whether he sees himself staying at Anfield even longer than the deal in place, he simply responded: 'Four years in Liverpool.'
More recently, Klopp has even claimed he would have been wise to depart Anfield in the summer on the most positive of notes having led the club to their first league title in 30 years.
Ahead of their Champions League opener against Ajax, Klopp - in an interview to be broadcast by BT Sport - said: 'If I would have been a really smart person I would have left in the summer.
'It would have been really positive what people would have said, but unfortunately I'm not that smart!
'When I used that phrase ['it doesn't matter what people say about you when you arrive, but what they say when you leave'] it was specifically about the Dortmund farewell because people were positive when I arrived there and they were positive when I left there in the right manner.
'So that's all good and if that happens, whenever it will be, I will be fine with that. What we can win between now and then, I have no idea, but I can promise we will try everything.'
Should Klopp get to 2024, he will become the longest serving Liverpool manager since Bob Paisley, who was in charge from 1974 to 1983.