Jurgen Klopp was fortunate to sign plenty of star players over his managerial career, but he admits that there were two big names who got away from him, and he’s always regretted it
Jurgen Klopp has been recalling missing out on two modern day Premier League superstars during his time in management.
The German called time on his managerial career last summer after almost nine years in charge of Liverpool, having previously coached Mainz and Borussia Dortmund during a 23-year management career.
Klopp lifted the Champions League, the Premier League, the FA Cup, two League Cups, the Club World Cup, two Bundesliga titles and the German Cup during a storied career in the dugout, but at an event in South Africa this week he admits his regrets over not signing Tottenham captain Son Heung-min and Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne when he was at Dortmund.
“I could’ve signed Son from Tottenham. At that time, he was at Hamburg,” said Klopp, speaking at an anniversary event in Cape Town for the Hout Bay United Football Community.
“I don’t even remember why [the signing didn’t happen] and just facing him in the Premier League, I thought ‘My God, you dumb s*** [for not signing him].’ It’s crazy.
“Kevin De Bruyne was that close [Klopp places his fingers around 1cm apart]. Then he smashed us in the cup final with Wolfsburg, so that was a double minus.
“Though I don’t think it generally makes too much sense to regret stuff, but you did the best probably at the time, so deal with it.”
Son joined Bayer Leverkusen from Hamburg in 2013, and after 29 goals in 87 games he would move on to Tottenham, where he is now in his 10th season at the club having scored 172 goals in 445 appearances to become Spurs’ fifth highest scorer of all-time.
De Bruyne failed to make the grade at Chelsea before joining Wolfsburg in 2013, and he scored in his side’s 3-1 win over Klopp’s Dortmund in the German Cup final in 2015. He joined Manchester City a year later and has gone on to win six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League.
Klopp also admitted he missed out on signing Sadio Mane for Dortmund, only to correct his mistake and bring him to Liverpool in 2016.
“There’s a Dortmund supporter in here so I have to apologise to him because I didn’t sign Sadio Mane for Dortmund,” he said at the event.
“I could say I was young and naive, but I wasn’t that young and naive. I realised it when he came to Liverpool, I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s a lot of money for a guy I could have had three years ago for much less.'”
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