Jürgen Klopp cited bad timing when it came to Manchester United approaching him in 2013, but also criticised the proposed project at the time.
The 58-year-old, now head of global soccer for Red Bull GmbH, stepped away from Liverpool at the end of the 2023–24 season. His mid-season announcement came as a shock, but he cited he was running out of energy at the time.
Perhaps even more surprising is Klopp’s Liverpool might not have been a reality considering Man Utd had him on their list of targets to replace the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.
“In the year when Sir Alex retired, they spoke to me. Of course, they were interested at one point. At that time, I would have been interested. I was young, I had a sensational team at Dortmund,” Klopp said on The Diary of a CEO podcast.
“It was wrong time, wrong moment. I had a contract at Dortmund and wouldn’t have left for anybody. They wanted a new manager and I was one of a few options I think.”
Klopp: Man Utd Project Was Not About Football
Klopp further revealed there were concerns from his perspective about conversations with the Red Devils.
“There are some reasons, but the people in that conversation told me [things] I didn’t like. United was that big, ‘We get all the players we want, we get him, we get him,’ and I was sitting there... It was not my project. It was the wrong time, but on top of that it was not my project.
”The idea is we bring all the best players together and let’s go,” Klopp said before being asked if the Man Utd project at the time was about just football.
“No, not at all (about football), and I sat there [and thought] it was not for me,” he said, later citing his conversation with Liverpool’s Mike Gordon and how their interest was centred around a “pure football project.”
Don’t Hold Your Breath on a Klopp Managerial Return Right Now
For fans hoping to see Klopp return to the touchline, the former Liverpool boss shed some light on where things currently stand in his mind. As of now, the German isn’t rushing back to a technical area at Anfield, or anywhere else in the world.
“I love what I do right now. I don’t miss coaching. I mean I do coach [now], but just different, not players. I don’t miss it. I don’t miss standing in the rain, two-and-a-half, three hours, and I don’t miss going to press conferences three times a week, having 10, 12 interviews a week. I don’t miss that, I don’t.
“So, I don’t miss being in the dressing room in the sense of I didn’t have it often enough. I coached 1,080-something games, so I was in a dressing room very, very often and I don’t want to die in a dressing room because it’s so nice... it smells! It’s these kind of things,” Klopp said in regards to what it would take for him to return.
“But there might be something. I’m 58, that’s from your perspective old, from the other side it’s not that old. That means I could make the decision in a few years. I don’t know. Do I have to make the decision today? I will not coach again, but thank God I don’t have to do that. I can just see what [the] future brings.”
Klopp previously said if he was to return to the Premier League, it would only be to manage Liverpool. His successor, Arne Slot, signed a three-year contract which is set to end in the summer of 2027.
Despite early season struggles this campaign, Slot still won the league in his first year. Theoretically, it would take something catastrophic for the Dutchman to prematurely leave the club. And, even then, if Klopp was approached, it sounds like a decision wouldn’t come easy.
The German had other offers after stepping away from Liverpool as well. It was reported Klopp was high on U.S. Soccer’s list to replace Gregg Berhalter for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He was also linked with the England job after Sir Gareth Southgate resigned in the aftermath of Euro 2024, but ruled himself out of both openings rather swiftly.
Yet in the end, Klopp decided dressing rooms, press conferences and appearances on a touchline are not how he wants his future to look.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jurgen Klopp Reveals Why He Turned Down Man Utd Before Joining Liverpool.