Jurgen Klopp spoke candidly about making the emotional decision to reject a managerial role at Liverpool as the legendary German coach spoke out
14:47, 26 Nov 2025Updated 14:55, 26 Nov 2025
Jurgen Klopp speaking in an interview
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Jurgen Klopp opened up about rejecting a job offer at Liverpool(Image: YouTube/ESPN)
Jurgen Klopp once opened up about rejecting an offer to leave Liverpool and take charge of the German national team in 2023.
The Reds missed out on Champions League qualification in the 2022/23 season, settling for a Europa League spot after finishing fifth in the Premier League table. In an interview earlier this year, Liverpool's former manager Klopp admitted he craved a fresh challenge at that point but couldn't bring himself to walk away following such a miserable campaign.
The 58-year-old, who now serves as Head of Global Soccer for the Red Bull group, explained how he believed it was his responsibility to restore order at Anfield before pursuing other opportunities. Speaking to Welt, Klopp said: "The season before that [final one] didn't go so well for Liverpool - and in the summer after this season, Germany was looking for a new national coach.
"I could have said 'yes' because it might have been better to do something different. I didn't want to. And the decision was not about the job of the national coach itself.
"I couldn't leave Liverpool like that. There was a team, there were people with whom I had a relationship. I've never been so cold not to remember the good things I said to a player a week earlier.
Jurgen Klopp manager of Liverpool walks his "Guard of Honour" at the end the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield on May 19, 2024 in Liverpool, England.
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Klopp left Liverpool in 2024(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
"We had brought in new players like Endo, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai and Mac Allister. With them and the core team, I wanted to fix it again. That was important to me. We managed to do that. Nevertheless, the decision to stop in Liverpool matured.”
He went on to reveal how he ultimately left the club in 2024. The German stunned the football world in January of that year by announcing he would step down at the end of the season, citing fatigue as the main reason.
Klopp added: "I communicated this internally early on, until we went public in January, also at the request of the owners. You talk about a perfect handover, but there are others who say that perhaps Liverpool would have become champions if we had only made it public later. But for me it felt right, just like it did back then in Mainz and later in Dortmund."
Reflecting on his decision to quit coaching after almost 25 years, Klopp continued: "I don't want it anymore. I now have a job (as Red Bull's global head of soccer) that fulfils me and is also intense. I don't sleep longer in the morning and I don't go to bed later in the evening, but I can organise my work much better.
"My wife, for example, is totally happy with it because we can plan things much better that we couldn't plan before. For me, it was never about not doing anything anymore, but about doing something else. I've coached 1081 games, and that's not including the friendly matches. If we add those from 23 years, we might come to 1200.
Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot reacts during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on November 22, 2025.
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Arne Slot is under pressure(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
"Then the press conferences, the media appointments. I always just reacted. And in Liverpool there were also the tasks as manager. That was a lot, a lot.”
Despite his earlier comments, Liverpool's recent slump has sparked speculation that Klopp might make a comeback at Anfield in some capacity.
After a fairy-tale debut season that saw him clinch the Premier League title, successor Arne Slot is learning just how quickly fortunes can change in England's top flight. Despite a whopping £450million investment in new talent over the summer, Slot's side suffered their sixth defeat in seven league matches against Nottingham Forest last weekend, losing 3-0 and now languishing in 12th place.
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The pressure on Slot will only intensify if the team's performance doesn't pick up soon. Some fans are even hoping for Klopp to return to Liverpool, should the managerial post become available.
Klopp, appearing on the Diary of a CEO podcast recently, said some form of a comeback is ‘theoretically possible’, but it is unlikely that it would be a managerial role and it's still unlikely that there are any serious plans to sack Slot.
Liverpool's next challenge is a home game against PSV in the Champions League on Wednesday, followed by a trip to east London to face West Ham in the league on Sunday.