EPL: Why I snubbed Manchester United – Jürgen Klopp

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed why he turned down the chance to replace Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in 2013.

Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp said that while Manchester United were interested in him when he was coaching Borussia Dortmund, he didn’t feel it was the right time — or the right project.

“When Sir Alex retired, they spoke to me,” Klopp said. “They were interested, and I was interested too. But I had a contract with Dortmund and wouldn’t have left for anyone. It was the wrong time, and when we talked, there were some things I didn’t like.”

He explained that United’s plan at the time didn’t appeal to him:

“The idea was, ‘We’ll buy all the top players we want.’ That didn’t feel like my kind of project.”

After Ferguson retired, United struggled to find success despite hiring several big-name managers  David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag, and now Ruben Amorim  and spending heavily on players like Paul Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria, and Romelu Lukaku.

Klopp said he wouldn’t have agreed with those signings:
“I didn’t want to bring back Pogba or Cristiano.

They’re great players, but bringing players back rarely works.”
Instead, Klopp later joined Liverpool in 2015 and helped them return to glory — winning the Champions League in 2019 and their first Premier League title in 30 years in 2020.

He said his talks with Liverpool’s Mike Gordon felt genuine and focused on football:

“After our conversation, I thought, ‘I want to work with this man.’ It felt right.”

When asked why United have struggled since Ferguson, Klopp laughed and said he never spent time thinking about them once he joined Liverpool.
He added that the club’s main issue is impatience and lack of long-term planning:

“They keep trying to fix problems quickly instead of building for the future. Other clubs like Liverpool, City, and Arsenal have improved while United kept changing direction. That’s their biggest problem.”
Summary:

Jurgen Klopp turned down Manchester United in 2013 because he didn’t like their short-term, money-driven approach.

He preferred a real football project  which he later found at Liverpool, where he became one of the club’s greatest ever managers.