When asked to name the two Premier League players he regrets not signing during his career, former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp did not hesitate to name them.
After nearly nine years in charge of the Reds, Klopp decided to step down from his position as manager of the team during the summer of 2017.
Following a period of inconsistent performance over the course of several years, the German was able to revitalise Liverpool by winning both the Premier League and the Champions League.
In addition to bringing through players such as Curtis Jones, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Conor Bradley through the club’s youth system, he signed players such as Alisson, Mohamed Salah, and Virgil van Dijk, all of whom continue to be important players for Liverpool.
Liverpool made a significant investment in four new midfielders during his final season as manager. These players were Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, and Ryan Gravenberch. The goal of this move was to revitalise an ageing part of the team’s midfield.
Previously, Klopp, who is now the Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull, was at Borussia Dortmund for seven years. During that time, he led the club from a position in the middle of the Bundesliga table to a position where they were consistently in contention for top domestic and continental honours.
He was responsible for bringing in players such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mats Hummels, Robert Lewandowski, and Marco Reus, all of whom were instrumental in the club’s rise to prominence.
Klopp still laments the fact that he did not sign three Premier League players during his managerial career, despite the fact that he did eventually sign one of them when he was appointed at Liverpool. This is despite the fact that he made a number of incredible transfer deals, of which there were many instances.
During a recent conversation, Jurgen Klopp made the following statement: “There is a Dortmund supporter in here, and I have to apologise to him.” Because I did not commit Sadio Mane to Dortmund as a player.
While I was young and naive at the time, I could say that I was. However, I was not that young back then, nor was I that naive.
‘That’s a lot of money for a player I could have signed a few years ago for a lot less,’ I realised when we then took him to Liverpool. I could have signed him before that.
“I had the opportunity to acquire Son from Tottenham. Additionally, he was in Hamburg at that time. The moment I came face to face with him in the Premier League, I thought to myself, “My God, you stupid s**t that you did not sign him for Dortmund.”
Kevin De Bruyne came awfully close to winning. Then, in the cup final against Wolfsburg, he completely destroyed us, so that was a double-negative for us.
“Though I don’t think [otherwise] it generally makes too much sense to regret stuff, but you did the best probably at the time, so deal with it.”
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