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Jurgen Klopp leading the charge for the Red Devils at Old Trafford? Can you imagine? Well, the former Liverpool boss could have taken the reins at Manchester United in 2013, but the German coach revealed the timing and the setup didn’t feel right. “They tried! It was the wrong time, the wrong moment,” Klopp told the Diary of a CEO podcast. “I had a contract at Dortmund. They just needed a manager — I was one of a few options.” Klopp explained that United’s approach, focused on assembling big-name stars rather than building a project from the ground up, didn’t appeal to him. “United was that big, ‘We get all the players we want…’ and I was sitting there like, ‘Huh…’ It didn’t feel like my project. I didn’t want to bring back players just because they were famous — Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo… great players, yes, but it’s not about that.” Who Took Over at United Instead, United appointed David Moyes, Sir Alex Ferguson’s hand-picked successor. Moyes struggled to step out of Ferguson’s shadow and lasted just 10 months before being replaced, proving Klopp’s instinct to wait was a wise one. Liverpool: A Project He Could Believe In Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015, finding a club ready for his attacking, high-intensity philosophy. “The pure football project comes up with Liverpool. And the talk with Mike Gordon [Fenway Sports Group president] — that was really important. After that, I wanted to be his friend. That’s how it started.” Over nine years at Anfield, Klopp won eight trophies, including the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, and Club World Cup, managing 491 games with 299 wins. Could Klopp Return? Fans still wonder if Klopp could return. While he’s now Red Bull’s Head of Global Soccer, he hasn’t ruled out a possible future return to Liverpool — the project that truly felt like his own.
