Zelic: Klopp should stay another season

Borussia Dortmund have endured a disappointing campaign but former defender Ned Zelic has backed coach Jurgen Klopp to remain at Signal Iduna Park beyond the 2014-15 season.

Dortmund have flirted with relegation and face an uphill battle to qualify for Europe next season, while the German side crashed out of the UEFA Champions League last-16 to Juventus during the week, raising doubts over Klopp’s future at the club.

Some pundits and fans think it may be time for Klopp – who guided Dortmund to consecutive Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012, as well as the 2013 UEFA Champions League final – to take up a fresh challenge elsewhere, with the Premier League looming as a likely destination.

Klopp has been linked with moves to Arsenal, Liverpool and more recently West Ham as Premier League clubs attempt to prise the charismatic 47-year-old away from Germany.

However, Australian Zelic – a Bundesliga winner and UEFA Cup runner-up during his three seasons with Dortmund between 1992 and 1995 – told Perform: “I think he should stay another season. They have had a good run and won a few titles and got to the Champions League final.

“They just got themselves in a situation where they had a few injuries going into the season. Coming off the World Cup as well and then all of a sudden you lose a few games and then you are in a relegation battle.

“There are not many [Dortmund] players with much experience in relegation battles, so you kind of have to adapt to it. It takes a lot of character to get out of it and they have done well.

“When you go through that sort of run, where first you’re fighting to get out of those relegation spots and the danger of being relegated, it is mentally exhausting so that is probably a reason why they have struggled the past couple of weeks.”