Jurgen Klopp’s reason for Man United snub hints at where next job priority lies
Jurgen Klopp has been out of club management since leaving Liverpool in 2024 and has made clear what any side must prioritise to entice him
Jurgen Klopp has not managed another club since his Liverpool exit in 2024(Image: Getty)
Ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has previously stated he would not take charge of a football club where commercial considerations take precedence. The 58-year-old has been away from club management since leaving Anfield in 2024.
During his nearly nine-year tenure in Liverpool, Klopp won a handful of trophies. He chose to walk away from his role as head coach almost two years ago after a third-place league finish and was replaced by Arne Slot.
Since his departure, speculation about a return to management has been constant, whilst he currently serves as Red Bull’s Head of Global Soccer. It has also emerged that prior to his appointment at Anfield, clubs including Manchester United and Real Madrid allegedly attempted to secure his services without success.
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Whilst the prospect of the German returning to coaching remains open, he has been emphatic that any club he takes over must not prioritise commercial interests excessively or permit excessive interference from those above. This stance may well have derailed United’s rumoured previous attempts to recruit him.
Speaking in 2018 about why he chose to join Liverpool, Klopp said: “I love the history. I really am a football romantic. I knew I probably can help. They maybe really need me, in this time. I know what I’m good at.
“When they told me about the problems they had I thought, ‘OK, yeah, I am probably the really right manager for that club’. They took me like I am, they didn’t ask me to do anything else, so I could focus from the first day completely on football.
“It is a football club. A FOOTBALL club. I had talks with other clubs and they didn’t sound like a football club. It sounded like marketing, image, you need to sign this, you need to sign that. And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s not the game I love’.”
Just 12 months on, Robbie Fowler revealed details of a conversation with Klopp, exposing alleged approaches from United, as well as his core principles. Fowler said: “I did an interview with him a couple of years ago and he told me he turned down a couple of super-rich clubs after Dortmund – one was definitely Manchester United and the other was probably Real Madrid.
“Because he hated how they were focused solely on commercial influences. He said he liked Liverpool because they had a balance between the money needed to reach the top and the history and identity of the club and their fans.”
These requirements are already established for any team that might seek to recruit Klopp for a managerial role in future. However, the German has insisted he will never take charge of another English club apart from Liverpool.
In 2024, he declared: “What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool, 100 per cent. That’s not possible. My love for this club, my respect for the people, is too big. I couldn’t. I couldn’t for a second think about it. There’s no chance. This is part of my life, we are part of the family, we feel at home here. There’s no chance to do that.”
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