Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has cast further doubt on him extending his stay at Anfield.
The German has already had one contract renewal to take him up to 2022 and Fenway Sports Group is keen to tie him down to another.
Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015 and, having spent exactly seven years at previous clubs Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, there is already speculation he could walk away from the Reds in three seasons.
Last week he said he did not know what would happen ‘in two or three years’ and his latest comments will only increase concerns the Champions League-winning coach has a definite endpoint in mind.
Asked if he would take some time off after he finishes at Anfield, Klopp told German sports magazine Kicker: ‘It looks like it. Who can now say if he can give it his all in three years’ time?
‘If I decide for myself that I can’t go on any more, I’ll take a break and in that year I’d have to make a definite decision [over my career].
‘I have absolute energy, but I have one problem; I can’t do “a little bit”. I can only do “all or nothing”.
‘But the chances are very high that my energy levels will go up again [after a year’s break], and that I can then do the job the way I want to.’