Featured Image Credit: Diary of a CEO
Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Manchester United, Liverpool, Premier League
Josh Lawless
Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Manchester United, Liverpool, Premier League
Jurgen Klopp has revealed the remark he "didn't like" during discussions about taking the reigns at Manchester United.
Klopp is one of Liverpool's greatest ever managers, delivering their sixth European crown and their first league title for 30 years in a glittering nine-year stint with the Reds.
He will forever be revered by Liverpool supporters but things could have been very different, had Klopp had positive discussions with bitter rivals United many years before.
In a new sit-down chat with Steven Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp was asked why he never ended up managing United given their status and history.
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The German went on to explain that he did hold talks with United more than a decade ago when he was still managing Borussia Dortmund.
But he did not come away with a good feeling, believing that he was not suited to the role because of the club's obsession with signing big players as it was not his kind of "project".
Klopp explained: "They tried. It was the wrong moment, wrong time. I had a contract at Dortmund, I wouldn't have left for nobody in that time.
"I was one of a few options I think. There are some reasons what the people in that conversation told me that I didn't like.
"United was that big - we get all the players we want - we get him and we get him. I was sitting there and it was not my project.
"It was the wrong time but on top of that it didn't feel like my project. I didn't want to bring back Pogba - Paul is a sensational player but these things don't work usually.
"Or Cristiano [Ronaldo] - my god we know that together with Messi he's the best player in the world but bringing him back never helps.
"In that time, in 2013, it obviously wasn't about Cristiano and maybe not Paul - I'm not even sure, I don't have the numbers.
"But it was just the idea we bring the best players together and let's go. And I sat there and I was like, 'Nah, I'm not sure - that's not for me'
"The pure football project comes up with Liverpool and in the end it was pretty special."
Klopp went on to take the Liverpool job in 2015 following the sacking of Brendan Rodgers and brought the good times back to Anfield, building a team that competed for the very top prizes.
He won every available trophy and had a win percentage of 60.9% before he departed at the end of the 2023/24 season after "running out of energy".
On a break from coaching and in the middle of a job working as Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull, Klopp has said he will never manage another team in England.
But he didn't rule out returning to Liverpool one day in a move which would follow in the footsteps of Kenny Dalglish.
"I said I will never coach a different team in England," Klopp stated.
"That means that if it's Liverpool, yeah. Theoretically. I don't even know exactly [what it would take it to return]. I love what I'm doing right now."