Jurgen Klopp's verdict on Man Utd job as Liverpool icon 'wants coaching return'

Jurgen Klopp met with Manchester United representatives more than a decade ago and was later confronted with a fake contract at a press conference during his Liverpool tenure

Jurgen Klopp could return to management in 2026(Image: Getty Images)

Manchester United is on the hunt for its next permanent manager, having missed out on appointing Jurgen Klopp more than a decade ago.

The ex-Borussia Dortmund boss would go on to achieve remarkable success at Liverpool before leaving Anfield in 2024. The Premier League and Champions League-winning manager spent nearly nine years on Merseyside. He's now being linked with a sensational return to the dugout, just a day after Arne Slot's Liverpool lost to Wolves on Tuesday. Reports in continental Europe claim that Klopp wants to resume his coaching career.

Prior to his time at Anfield, Klopp built a Dortmund team that challenged Bayern Munich's supremacy in German soccer, securing two Bundesliga titles, which caught United's eye.

Klopp was associated with the club prior to Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013 and again during David Moyes' troubled tenure the following season, but no agreement was reached. The 58-year-old is now at the helm of global soccer for Red Bull, overseeing its network of clubs.

Man Utd meeting

United is said to have held talks with Klopp in an attempt to convince the then-Dortmund boss to succeed Moyes in 2014. The club had fallen well below the championship-winning standards set the year before, ending up in seventh place.

Klopp earned significant acclaim for his work in Germany, but he appeared unconvinced by United's overtures.

Klopp won the Premier League with Liverpool in 2020(Image: Getty Images)

In a 2017 biography, 'Klopp: Bring the Noise,' journalist Raphael Honigstein claimed that United chief Ed Woodward flew out to Germany to speak to Klopp. The executive allegedly told the coach that Old Trafford was "like an adult version of Disneyland" - but Klopp wasn't fully convinced by Woodward's pitch, and nothing ever materialized.

Contract reaction

While at Liverpool, Klopp appeared baffled when handed a United contract at the start of a press conference. The moment occurred after Erik ten Hag's side knocked out Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals during Klopp's final season.

The Liverpool manager was far from pleased when presented with a United contract at the start of his press duties. It later transpired that the document was a bogus contract signed by YouTuber IShowSpeed, whose actual name is Darren Watkins Jr., while visiting Old Trafford. Klopp's representative Marc Kosicke has since claimed that both United and Chelsea made contact with his client after he left Liverpool in 2024. Both clubs, however, denied Kosicke's assertions.

Man Utd response

The German tactician has disclosed that he was approached to succeed Ferguson in 2013. Klopp, though, felt it wouldn't have been the right moment to depart 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 boss announced his intention to depart Liverpool at the conclusion of that campaign. Klopp cited waning energy as the reason for stepping back from management, though he emphasised he would not be taking charge at any other Premier League side. "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.

He then ruled out working for United or one of Liverpool's English rivals. Klopp added: "What I know definitely – I will never, ever manage a different club in England than Liverpool, 100 percent. 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."