Manchester United are searching for their next permanent manager, but missed out on appointing Jurgen Klopp more than a decade ago. The former Borussia Dortmund boss would go on to enjoy great success at Liverpool before leaving Anfield in 2024.
The Premier League and Champions League-winning coach spent almost nine years with the Merseyside club. He had previously built a Dortmund side that challenged Bayern Munich’s domestic dominance, securing two Bundesliga titles, and his work in Germany attracted United’s interest.
Klopp was linked with the club ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 and subsequently during David Moyes’ struggles the following year, but no agreement materialised. The 58-year-old currently works as Red Bull’s head of global soccer, overseeing their portfolio of clubs.
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Red Bull has recently refuted claims that the company is unhappy with Klopp’s work, which had led to speculation about his future. Should the ex-Liverpool manager choose to return to the dugout, he has already ruled out working for another English club, leaving United to imagine what could have been.
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Man United meeting
United reportedly met with Klopp to convince the then-Dortmund boss to succeed Moyes in 2014. The club had fallen well short of the title-winning standards set in the previous campaign, eventually finishing seventh. Klopp had earned plaudits for his work in Germany but was claimed not to have been impressed by United’s pitch.
In a 2017 biography, Klopp: Bring the Noise, Raphael Honigstein wrote: “Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had flown out to see Klopp in Germany. David Moyes’s short tenure at Old Trafford was coming to an end, and Klopp was United’s favourite to replace him, to bring back a sense of adventure to the Red Devils’ game.
“Woodward told Klopp that the Theatre of Dreams was ‘like an adult version of Disneyland’, a mythical place where, as the nickname suggested, the entertainment was world class and dreams came true.
“Klopp wasn’t entirely convinced by that sales pitch — he found it a bit ‘unsexy’, he told a friend — but he didn’t dismiss the proposition out of hand either.”
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Contract reaction
During his time at Liverpool, Klopp showed a bemused reaction when greeted with a United contract at the start of a press conference. The incident occurred after Erik ten Hag’s side had dramatically knocked their rivals out of the FA Cup quarter-finals during Klopp’s final season in charge.
The Liverpool manager was not overly impressed upon seeing a United contract at the start of his media duties. It transpired that the document was a fake contract signed by YouTuber and streamer IShowSpeed, real name Darren Watkins Jr, during his visit to Old Trafford.
Klopp’s agent Marc Kosicke has since claimed that both United and Chelsea enquired about his client’s availability after stepping down from Liverpool in 2024. However, both clubs denied Kosicke’s claims.
Reason for rejecting Man United
The German coach revealed that he received an approach to succeed Ferguson in 2013. However, Klopp felt that it would have been the wrong time to leave Dortmund.
“In the year when Sir Alex retired, they (United) spoke to me,” Klopp said on The Diary of A CEO podcast in October 2025. “Of course, they were interested. At that time, I would’ve been interested – I was young, I had a sensational team at Dortmund. They probably thought, ‘What is he doing there?’
“Later on, I heard my players – James Milner and Adam Lallana – had flown to Real Madrid when we [Dortmund] had a semifinal there in the Champions League, just to watch us play. I mean, you can’t get a bigger compliment.
“United tried [to approach me]. It was the wrong time, wrong moment. I had a contract at Dortmund and wouldn’t have left for anybody. There were some things in the conversations [with United] that I didn’t like. The idea was that big – ‘We get all the players we want’ – and I was sitting there thinking, this is not my project.”
Liverpool admission
In January 2024, the experienced manager announced his intention to leave Liverpool at the end of that season. Klopp cited a lack of energy for his move away from coaching, but was clear that he had no intention of joining one of the club’s Premier League rivals.
“If you ask me, ‘Will you ever work as a manager again?’ I would say now no. But I don’t know obviously how that will feel because I never had the situation,” Klopp said. “What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool, 100 per cent.
“That’s not possible. My love for this club, my respect for the people is too big. I couldn’t. I couldn’t for a second think about it. There’s no chance. This is part of my life, we are part of the family, we feel home here. There’s no chance to do that.”
