The 3 superstar players Jurgen Klopp regretted not signing in his career
Jurgen Klopp is one of the greatest managers of his generation, but the former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund boss has some regrets in the transfer market.
Klopp signed the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah throughout his career, but was unable to sign a few players who became legends of their time.
We’ve picked out the three star players Klopp has admitted he regrets not signing at points during his managerial career.
Sadio Mane
Klopp admitted that not signing Mane when he was at Borussia Dortmund was his single biggest transfer regret.
The German apologised to Borussia Dortmund fans for not signing Mane at the 10th anniversary celebration of Hout Bay United Football Community (HBUFC) in Cape Town.
“There are a couple of Dortmund supporters here, so I have to apologise for them, because I didn’t sign Sadio Mane for Dortmund,” Klopp said when asked which player he regretted not signing most.
“I could say I was young and naive [but] I wasn’t that young and naive. I realised it when he came to Liverpool.
“I thought: ‘That’s a lot of money [compared to what Dortmund would have had to spend to sign him initially].”
Mane cost Liverpool around £34 million plus add-ons in 2016, having moved to Southampton for £11.8 million two years earlier.
At the time, Klopp had been unwilling to take a risk on a player he was not absolutely certain about, but Dortmund’s disastrous start to the 2014-15 season and Mane’s fine form for Southampton showed him the error of his ways quickly.
Happily, the forward enjoyed the best years of his career under Klopp at Liverpool, scoring 120 goals in 269 appearances.
Son Heung-min
Klopp went on to cite his failure to sign Son Heung-Min as his other major regret.
“One of the biggest mistakes in my life is not signing Son Heung-min,” Klopp previously told Korean outlet KBS News in November 2021.
“Outstanding player. He is fantastic, a sign of Korean football and one of the best strikers in the world.
“I heard he’ll be alright. Maybe need to wear a mask, but even with a mask, he’ll be alright.”
Son, who was at Hamburg at the time, chose to join Bayer Leverkusen over Klopp’s Dortmund before moving to the Premier League with Spurs in 2015.
Ironically, Son has an impressive goal-scoring record against Liverpool, having regularly netted against the Reds during Klopp’s time at Anfield.
And his strike against Liverpool in May 2022, earning Tottenham a late-season draw, arguably stopped Klopp’s team from winning the Premier League title that year. Ouch.
QUIZ: Can you name Liverpool’s 25 highest goalscorers under Jurgen Klopp?
Kevin De Bruyne
Klopp’s final transfer regret was not convincing Jose Mourinho to sell De Bruyne to him at Dortmund back in 2013.
Former Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has previously claimed that Chelsea’s refusal to let De Bruyne join Dortmund was rooted in their frustration at failing to sign Robert Lewandowski.
Lewandowski had drawn interest from the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United while starring under Klopp’s side.
The striker eventually joined Bayern Munich and De Bruyne was sold to Wolfsburg in January 2014.
The future Manchester City legend reportedly agreed personal terms with Dortmund in 2013, but was talked out of the move by Mourinho.
“I had a personal agreement [with Klopp],” De Bruyne said in an interview in 2015.
“I asked the club [Chelsea] to go because I had a good feeling about Dortmund at the time. [Klopp] really wanted me. He said: ‘You will be the No 1’.
“At the time I thought it was a good decision to go but the manager [Jose Mourinho] told me ‘You need to stay and you will get your chance here’. I accepted it and we moved on.”
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