Why Chelsea can keep learning from Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp provides perfect template

The influence of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp on Chelsea’s current strategy cannot be understated.

When time was called on Frank Lampard’s short-lived Stamford Bridge reign, the decision was absolutely to go German.

Ralf Rangnick and Julian Nagelsmann were the other names on Roman Abramovich’s three-man wanted list, with Thomas Tuchel’s positioning on it up for debate.

Chelsea’s owner had seen how Klopp had broken Pep Guardiola’s stranglehold on the Premier League and wanted a piece of that action.

Some weeks before Lampard was shown the door last January, whispers were already circulating that a “German speaker” was wanted.

That was widely interpreted as a desire to find a manager capable of getting the best out of expensive recruits Kai Havertz and Timo Werner — but it was more a case of the language of German football and the coaching revolution from that part of the world.

The Blues got their man and their reward, in the form of last season’s Champions League triumph, but as Tuchel and Klopp prepare to go head-to-head in Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final, their respective roles feel very different.

Liverpool are the embodiment of their manager. For all the success of their much-heralded transfer committee, he is the overarching identity of the club in the manner of a Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger of old, Guardiola at Manchester City now.

He has earned that status by restoring them to one of the world’s elite clubs and shaking them from a 30-year slumber that felt terminal.

Liverpool have been rewarded for their faith in a project that took four years to yield its first trophy.

Tuchel could deliver his fourth in the space of 13 months with victory on Sunday, but what hope does he have of ever enjoying the level of