Jurgen Klopp reveals why he rejected Man Utd job in 2013 & key transfer mistake Red Devils made

Jurgen Klopp famously rejected the Manchester United job in 2013 and he’s recently revealed why he chose Liverpool over the Red Devils.

The German was approached by Sir Alex Ferguson in April 2013, while managing Borussia Dortmund, but he rejected the chance to join.

Then, two years later, he ended up moving to England and joining Liverpool, where he made history over the next nine years.

During a recent interview on the Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp revealed why he rejected the chance to join United.

“There are some reasons [why I didn’t join],” Klopp began.

“The people in that conversation told me [things] I didn’t like.

“So United was that big, we get all the players we want, and I was sitting there thinking it wasn’t my project.

“It was the wrong time, but on top of that, it wasn’t my project.”

One of the main reasons cited by Klopp for not joining United was the lack of control he’d have over the project itself.

He even cited the club re-signing the likes of Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo as mistakes.

“[For example], 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 all know he’s the best player along with Messi in the world, but bringing players back never helps.

“In that time in 2013, it was obviously not about Cristiano, but it was just the idea of bringing the best players together and saying ‘let’s go’ [that I didn’t like].

“And I sat there and was like, that’s not for me.”

Along with the football project not being the right fit for Klopp’s philosophy, the timing of United’s approach was also wrong for the German boss.

At the time, he was still committed to Dortmund and it would’ve taken a monumental offer to get him out of Germany around that time.

“It was a big honour, the whole talk, to be honest. But I could not leave Dortmund,” Klopp said in a separate interview in 2016.

“You are in April and you are in the middle of the planning for next season. You have this player and this player who are coming but then you are not there anymore? That doesn’t work. Not in my life.

“I didn’t hear about a real offer [from United] but, if there was, I could not have done it. I first had to finish the job with Dortmund and then think about other things.”

In contrast, Klopp instantly knew that he wanted the Liverpool job after speaking to director Mike Gordon in 2015.

“So then, the pure football project comes up with Liverpool and a sensational talk to Mike Gordon, that’s really important as well.

“I wanted after that talk to be his friend; he’s such a good guy, but that’s how it started.”

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