Jurgen Klopp: I am not seeking to restart coaching right now

Jurgen Klopp has been linked with a return to management despite claiming that he doesn't see himself as a coach anymore - 16 months since his exit from Liverpool

Ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he doesn't plan on returning to management as he doesn't miss a thing from his former life as a coach.

Klopp, 58, left the Reds at the end of the 2023/24 season after a successful nine-year reign at Anfield, ending the club's three-decade drought for a top-flight title and winning the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup among other major trophies.

During his time on Merseyside, Klopp won 299 and drew 108 of his 491 matches at the helm, accumulating an impressive 60.9 per cent win rate. Regarding honours won, Klopp is the fourth most decorated Liverpool manager ever behind Kenny Dalglish, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.

After leaving the Reds, Klopp took a short time out of the game before returning as Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull, who own the likes of Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, in January 2025.

Nine months have passed since Klopp started work at Red Bull and almost 16 following his departure from Liverpool. However, despite having a 23-year managerial career before that, Klopp doesn't miss coaching one bit.

When asked about whether he was glued to the television watching football matches last season, Klopp said in an interview with The Athletic: "Not. At. All. I was super happy with the way Liverpool performed. I watched some games. But it is not like, 'Oh, it's Saturday!"

"I didn't know when games started. I was just out.

"I played sports. We enjoyed life, spent time with the grandkids, completely normal stuff, knowing I will work again. But knowing as well, that I don't want to work as a coach anymore."

"That's what I think," Klopp clarified when asked to double down on not coaching every again. "But you don’t know. I'm 58. If I started again at 65, everybody will say, 'You said you'll never do it again' Er, sorry, I thought 100 per cent (when I said it)! That is what I think now. I don't miss anything."

Klopp had been linked with a shock move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad after Manchester United legend Laurent Blanc was sacked just four matches into the new season.

According to Saudi-based arriyadiyah.com, the German is Al-Ittihad's top choice to take the team forward. The Jeddah-based club feel his high-octane style would suit the squad.

While Klopp doesn't intend on returning to management, he is enjoying his new role at Red Bull, despite backlash from fans of former club Mainz following the announcement earlier this year.

"I knew it (would come)," Klopp said on the negative reception and banners from Mainz fans and others. "I'm German. I know what people in Germany think about the involvement of Red Bull in football. They love Red Bull. In all departments. But in football? No. So whatever, they want to do it that way.

"Funnily enough, it was only in Germany where the reaction was like that. But that’s fine — no problem. Everybody can think what they want. You just have to accept that I do what I want as long as I don’t hurt anybody.

"By the way, I don’t expect people to remember what I did for a specific club. The people in Mainz in the stadium now… they were little kids when I was there (1990-2001 as a player, then seven years as a coach), so their parents had to tell them who I was. So that’s how it is, it is absolutely fine.

"I don't expect everybody to like what I do. I have to do it for the right reasons — for my right reasons. By the way, in Liverpool, people are overly happy that I do what I do because I am not coaching another team."