Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Jurgen Klopp The curtain has been lifted on why he turned down the chance to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson But Manchester United before joining liverpool,
Klopp enjoyed nine brilliant seasons at Anfield, guiding the club to its first Premier League Title as well as sixth in 30 years Champions League During a stay which coincided with Man United’s fall down the table.
But his career could have taken a very different path, with the German revealing he was approached by United while he was head coach borussia dortmund in 2013.
“That year when Sir Alex retired, he spoke to me,” Klopp told British Entrepreneur steven bartlett But Diary of a CEO podcast. “Of course, at one point they were interested. 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?’
“Later I heard that my (Liverpool) players – James Milner and Adam Lallana – when we (Dortmund) were playing the semi-finals in the Champions League they went to Real Madrid to watch us play. ‘What is Dortmund doing? What football is this?’ I mean, you can’t get a higher compliment than that.
“United tried (to contact me). It was the wrong time, the wrong moment. I had a contract at Dortmund and I don’t leave for anyone. They wanted a new manager and I think I was one of the few options.”
While his contract at Dortmund gave Klopp an easy reason to say no to the Red Devils, the former Reds boss insisted the project was not right for him.
He said: “There were some things in the conversation that I didn’t like. The idea was so big – ‘We’ll get all the players you want, we’ll get this, and that, and that – 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 wasn’t my project.
“I didn’t want to bring (Paul) Pogba back, he was a sensational player but these things usually don’t work. Or Cristiano (Ronaldo), we all know he is the best player in the world along with (Lionel) Messi, but bringing back never helps.”
Bartlett then asked if style of football was ever talked about in meetings with United, to which Klopp replied: “No, not at all. I sat there and I thought ‘this is not for me’. And then a pure football project came up with Liverpool.”