Jurgen Klopp has been heavily linked with the Real Madrid coaching job, but reports suggest the Liverpool legend has no interest in taking over from Alvaro Arbeloa at the Bernabeu
Jurgen Klopp back at Anfield for the Legends football match between Liverpool Legends and Dortmund Legends at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp has been out of management since leaving Liverpool. (Image: PETER POWELL, AFP via Getty Images)
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Liverpool icon Jurgen Klopp has been predictably linked with the managerial vacancy at Real Madrid ahead of the summer transfer window, yet the German reportedly has absolutely no desire to succeed Alvaro Arbeloa in the dugout.
The former Liverpool right-back stepped into the role vacated by ex-Reds midfielder Xabi Alonso at the start of the year, after the Spaniard was dismissed. While Arbeloa was not officially designated as a caretaker, the general assumption was that a more long-lasting appointment would follow in the summer.
Real Madrid have since been eliminated from the Champions League, and the La Liga crown appears to be heading to Barcelona. Jose Mourinho has emerged this week as the overwhelming frontrunner for the position, with president Florentino Perez seemingly prepared to turn back to the Portuguese boss in an attempt to restore the club's fortunes.
Real Madrid are also reported to have weighed up the prospects of Didier Deschamps, Mauricio Pochettino, and Massimiliano Allegri. Mourinho would undoubtedly represent the most high-profile appointment of those mentioned, though he has been absent from the very pinnacle of the game for a considerable period.
Spanish publication AS reports that Klopp has no appetite for a move to Real Madrid, with only one position capable of enticing him back into management — the German national team.
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That post is currently occupied by Julian Nagelsmann, who will guide Florian Wirtz and his teammates into the World Cup, while Klopp is set to take up a punditry role on German television, casting his expert eye over his nation and beyond.
"I hope Flo Wirtz will have a fantastic, fantastic World Cup," Klopp said earlier this week. "I think he has everything you need to be a standout player.
"I don't want to put any pressure on the boy. I really think he showed already how good he can be in a difficult season."
A number of Liverpool players are set to feature at the tournament across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Jurgen Klopp during the official opening of New York Red Bulls new training facilities in Morristown, New Jersey.
Jurgen Klopp is currently Red Bull's head of global soccer. (Image: Dustin Satloff, Getty Images)
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"I hope my players will have a great World Cup," Klopp added. "I hope that Andy Robertson and Alisson Becker can enjoy that when they meet each other.
"Can you imagine that you play together for such a long time and Scotland qualifies for the first time, I don't know, since when, for the World Cup, and you meet each other, your friends, your mutual friends, and you meet each other in a game like that?
"I mean, that must be one of the happiest moments in your life. I wish Virgil (van Dijk) will have a great tournament. I really wish for Mo (Salah) that he will have a great tournament.
"I honestly wish that Sadio (Mane) will have a great tournament. Macca (Alexis Mac Allister), if he won, if they win it again. It was so nice to see him with a medal around his neck when he came back to Brighton.
"So many (of my) former players are part of the World Cup, which is really, really nice. And to see how time flies."
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