Jurgen Klopp explained his reason for rejecting Man Utd long before agent claim

Jurgen Klopp turned down the chance to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as the manager of Manchester United in 2013, eventually moving to Liverpool instead two years later

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was wanted by Manchester United in 2013(Image: AFP or licensors)

Jurgen Klopp's agent has claimed that both Manchester United and Chelsea inquired about the availability of Jurgen Klopp upon his decision to leave Liverpool in 2024.

Klopp spent the best part of nine years in the Anfield hot seat, restoring the club to the top of the European game during his time on Merseyside. It was that work that apparently impressed the likes of United and Chelsea, as Klopp's agent, Marc Kosicke, said that both Premier League outfits were interested in hiring him two years ago.

Questioned about the possibility of Klopp returning to management in the future, with the German having not managed since leaving Liverpool nearly two years ago, Kosicke said: "At the moment, I don't see that happening, because he's very happy with his new role [as Red Bull's Head of Global Soccer] and in this environment.

"Maybe at some point, he'll say he needs to smell the locker room again. But at the moment he's very, very happy in his role.

"Before joining Red Bull, Jurgen could have coached the USA or England national teams. Probably also Germany, if Julian Nagelsmann hadn't already been there.

"Even Chelsea and Manchester United inquired, although Jurgen had clearly stated that he would not coach any other club in England. These inquiries haven't stopped.

Klopp turned down the chance to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013(Image: Getty Images)

"Jurgen has undergone a metamorphosis, moving away from being a coach with a broad perspective towards more management responsibilities."

Interestingly, the Press Association reports that Chelsea and United both strongly denied Kosicke's suggestion that they were keen to appoint Klopp upon his exit from Liverpool.

Were the story to be true, it would not have been the first time that United had tried to entice Klopp, having also been interested in landing him following Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013.

Klopp ended up staying at Borussia Dortmund for two more seasons before joining Liverpool in October 2015, and he revealed last year that he felt as though the Liverpool project was more aligned with his managerial outlook.

"In the year when Sir Alex retired, they (United) spoke to me," Klopp said. "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."