Jurgen Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015 and left the club in 2024. In those nine years in charge, Klopp brought Liverpool the success they hadn’t experienced during the Premier League era in English football.
A couple of years before Klopp joined Anfield, something massive happened in English football. Sir Alex Ferguson left his role as the Manchester United manager in 2013.
Klopp revealed that while finding the successor of Sir Alex, he was in that conversation too. The former Reds boss told Steven Batlett on The Diary Of A CEO podcast:
“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. They probably thought, ‘what is he doing there?’
“United tried (to approach me). It was the 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.”
Jurgen Klopp reveals why he didn’t take the United job in this conversation. The German boss and the United board at that time had different visions. Klopp said:
“There were some things in the conversations that I didn’t like. The idea was that big – ‘we get all the players you want, we get him, and him, and him – and I was sitting there like… yeah, this is not my type of project. It was the wrong time but on top of that it was not my project.
“I didn’t want to bring back (Paul) Pogba, he was a sensational player but these things don’t work usually. Or Cristiano (Ronaldo), we all know he’s the best player, together with (Lionel) Messi, in the world but bringing back never helps.”
When Steven Bartlett asked Klopp whether the style of play was a part of that initial conversation with Manchester United, here is what the former Liverpool boss had to say:
“No, not at all. I was sat there and was like ‘that’s not for me’. And then a pure football project comes up with Liverpool.”
After Ferguson left United and Klopp joined Liverpool, both clubs went in different directions as far as the philosophy and style of play go. And the results are there for everyone to see.
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