Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has revealed why he turned down an approach from Manchester United to replace Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.
Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp disclosed that United had shown strong interest in him while he was managing Borussia Dortmund, but he declined the offer because it was the “wrong time” and not the right project for him.
“In the year when Sir Alex retired, they spoke to me. Of course, they were interested at one point,” Klopp said. “At that time, I would have been interested — I was young and had a sensational team at Dortmund. But I had a contract there and wouldn’t have left for anybody.”
Klopp explained that although he was flattered by United’s interest, he was put off by aspects of the discussions.
“There were some things in the conversations that I didn’t like,” he continued. “The idea was that big — ‘We get all the players we want, we get him, we get him.’ And I was sitting there thinking, this is not my project. It was the wrong time, but on top of that, it was not my project.”
Following Ferguson’s retirement, United spent heavily on several marquee signings — including Ángel Di María, Romelu Lukaku, and Alexis Sánchez — but struggled to replicate their former success.
Klopp, who later joined Liverpool in 2015 and led them to Premier League and Champions League glory, said he would not have followed that transfer approach.
“I didn’t want to bring back Pogba — he was a sensational player, but these things don’t usually work. Or Cristiano [Ronaldo]; we all know he’s one of the best, together with [Lionel] Messi, but bringing players back never helps,” he said.
Reflecting on his decision to join Liverpool two years later, Klopp described his first meeting with Mike Gordon, president of Fenway Sports Group, as decisive.
“Then a pure football project came up with Liverpool,” Klopp recalled. “After a sensational talk with Mike Gordon, I wanted to be his friend — he’s such a good guy.”
When podcast host Steven Bartlett, a Manchester United fan, asked why United have struggled since Ferguson’s departure, Klopp laughed before explaining that he never concerned himself with their affairs after joining Liverpool.
“Since I joined Liverpool, I never thought for a second about what United did right or wrong,” he said. “You become opponents — one that is more fun to beat than others.”
He added that United’s post-Ferguson issues stemmed from short-term thinking:
“In football, like in life, you have a problem and you try to solve it now, not thinking about the next problem two days later. United were always in a rush because they had to win the next game. When they weren’t happy, they would just buy the time.”
