With Liverpool FC, Jürgen Klopp wrote a success story. But the coach almost ended up at Liverpool’s arch-rivals Manchester United.
Much earlier than previously known, Manchester United was vying for Jürgen Klopp’s services. The successful coach revealed this in the podcast The Diary Of A CEO .
According to this, there was contact from the English record champions in 2013 in connection with the retirement of long-time United coach Sir Alex Ferguson.
Jürgen Klopp almost ended up at Manchester United
“In the year when Sir Alex retired, they spoke with me. Of course, they were interested at a certain point,” said Klopp.
Klopp explains rejection of Manchester United
But the then coach of Borussia Dortmund decided against the move to England. “United tried. It was the wrong time, the wrong moment. I had a contract in Dortmund and wouldn’t have gone for anyone. They wanted a new coach, and I was, I believe, one of several options.”
When asked whether he had turned down Manchester United and not the other way around, Klopp answered “Yes” and added: “There were some things in the conversations that I didn’t like. The idea was so big – ‘We get all the players we want, we get this one, we get that one’ – and I sat there and thought, this is not my project. It was the wrong time, but beyond that, it wasn’t my project.”
United tried again with Klopp
Instead, David Moyes took over Ferguson’s legacy. But by April 2014, he already had to leave. In a Klopp biography published in 2017, it was revealed that United had made an offer to Klopp at that time. As he now revealed, it was already the second unsuccessful attempt by the Red Devils.
Klopp had led BVB to the championship in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, he reached the Champions League final with the Black and Yellows. In London’s Wembley Stadium, the Dortmund team lost to FC Bayern 1-2.
After his departure from BVB in 2015, he took over the job at Liverpool FC in October and wrote a success story there in almost nine years. In 2019, he won the Champions League with the Reds, and in 2020 he won the Premier League title. Since early 2025, Klopp has been working as Head of Global Sports for Red Bull.