Jurgen Klopp’s Four Management Offers—And Why He Rejected Them All

Jürgen Klopp’s agent has sensationally claimed that his client rebuffed approaches from Manchester United, Chelsea, England and the U.S. men’s national team after stepping away from Liverpool in the summer of 2024.

After announcing that he was bringing an end to his Anfield tenure after nearly nine years, Klopp took a brief break from the game before becoming the head of global football for Red Bull’s stable of clubs across the globe. There has been numerous links of a return to management, with Real Madrid perennially billed as hotly keen admirers, but Klopp and his agent Marc Kosicke have always maintained that the 58-year-old is content with his advisory role.

Nevertheless, back in those hazy summer days of 2024, a jostling queue of suitors formed around the Premier League and Champions League winner.

“Before joining Red Bull, Jürgen could have coached the USA or England. Probably also Germany, if Julian Nagelsmann hadn’t already been there,” Kosicke told Transfermarkt. “Even Chelsea and Manchester United inquired, although Jürgen had clearly stated that he would not coach any other club in England.”

The Sliding Doors in Summer 2024

Manchester United

Erik ten Hag had a tumultuous reign over Man Utd. | Alex Livesey/Getty Images

On May 19, 2024, Klopp oversaw his final match as Liverpool manager, an entirely forgettable 2–0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers which concluded with the German boss leading the first ever chant for Arne Slot, his successor, at Anfield. Five days later, The Guardian reported that Manchester United had decided to sack Erik ten Hag regardless of the result in the upcoming FA Cup final after slumping to eighth in the Premier League, the club’s lowest top-flight finish since 1990 at the time. The Red Devils didn’t follow through.

United unexpectedly won the Wembley showpiece, convincingly defeating arch rivals Manchester City with a performance of tactical flexibility and competency which had been so criminally lacking across the previous campaign. As much as that win cast Ten Hag in a more flattering light, it didn’t stop United from interviewing a glut of candidates.

Thomas Frank was among those under consideration, along with the likes of Thomas Tuchel and Marco Silva. And, as revealed by Kosicke, Klopp apparently. Yet, as the agent stressed, his client made it abundantly clear that he would not join another Premier League club, let alone one of Liverpool’s fiercest historical foes.

Klopp was not alone in turning down United, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s board ultimately opted to not only stick with Ten Hag but hand him a contract extension. It didn’t quite work out so well.

Chelsea

After cycling through four head coaches (including caretakers) during BlueCo’s first season of ownership, Chelsea’s trigger-happy decision makers managed to leave Mauricio Pochettino to his own devices for the entire 2023–24 campaign. By the time May rolled around, the club could wait no longer—and it appears that the Argentine coach wasn’t in any mood to argue.

As Enzo Maresca would soon discover, appeasing all five sporting directors alongside the gaggle of hands-on owners assembled at Stamford Bridge is no easy task. Given Klopp’s frustrations with Liverpool’s transfer hierarchy towards the end of his tenure, there may have been several reasons why he turned down Chelsea’s inquiries.

USMNT

Mauricio Pochettino was a fairytale appointment for USMNT in 2024. | Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images

The USMNT role was not immediately vacant when Klopp left Liverpool. The U.S. Soccer Federation would soon rectify that after Gregg Berhalter oversaw a miserable group-stage exit in the 2024 Copa América hosted on home soil. Following successive defeats to Panama and Uruguay, Berhalter was releived of his duties on July 10, 2024.

It wasn’t until the following September that Pochettino was appointed. As the Argentine’s assistant Jesús Perez recently revealed, they walked into a setup where “there was a lack of basics.”

Klopp, who admitted to being drained after taking Liverpool’s fans from “doubters to believers” after a near decade of full-throttle focus, was probably best advised to steer clear of the USMNT rebuild which Pochettino has only recently gotten a handle on.

England

Gareth Southgate’s last match for England was the Euro 2024 final. | Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

This would have been the most intriguing hire. The English FA have subsequently demonstrated a willingness to hire a German coach and Klopp is arguably a more attactive option than Tuchel—who has spent much of his career desperately striving to extract himself from his compatriot’s shadow.

Boasting a fleet of players he’s already familiar with who are talented enough to reach consecutive European Championship finals, there is no grand rebuild required for the Three Lions. All they need is a bit of motivational magic (and luck) to get over the line and finally break that interminable trophy drought.

International management offers Klopp the connection to football he clearly still craves without the intensity of a club job’s day-to-day grind. Sir Gareth Southgate stepped down after Euro 2024 in the middle of July which may have been too soon for Klopp to think about a return. Yet, the FA cannily appointed Lee Carsley on an interim basis before giving Tuchel the reigns from January 2025 onwards—the same start date as Klopp’s Red Bull gig.

Tuchel may very well lead England to glory this summer but should he miss out, this failed bid for Klopp will wrankle as a gut-wrenching case of “What could have been.”

Will Jurgen Klopp Ever Return to Management?

Jürgen Klopp left Liverpool to take a break from coaching. | Ronny Hartmann/AFP/Getty Images

Kosicke left the door slightly ajar for Klopp’s return to management. “Maybe at some point he’ll say he needs to smell the locker room again,” his long-term agent mused. “But at the moment he’s very, very happy in his role.” Intriguingly, Kosicke added: “These inquiries keep coming.”

“Jürgen said relatively early on that he could have been a fantastic coach without ever having managed Bayern Munich or Real Madrid,” Kosicke revealed. “He desperately wanted to win the Champions League. But winning it three times wouldn’t make him any better or happier. He’s extremely happy with what he’s achieved. And it’s still wonderful to go down in history as one of the few coaches who only managed three clubs and were never fired.”

Klopp has always been framed as the ultimate opposition to established giants like Bayern Munich, taking on the role of Robin Hood when he denied the Bavarians consecutive Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund. Yet, on two separate occasions he came close to moving to Munich.

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t have worked,” Kosicke reflected of the unlikely union. “Jürgen likes pretzels and had a wheat beer partner in Erdinger. He’s always worked with strong personalities. I wouldn’t have seen any problem there.

“And Bayern came very close to signing us twice. Once in 2008: Uli Hoeneß wanted Jürgen Klopp, but Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wanted Jürgen Klinsmann. And after Niko Kovac [who was dismissed in November 2019], when Jürgen was at Liverpool, they approached us again. Nobody thought things would go so well with Hansi Flick. The timing just wasn’t right.”