In the world of football, Jurgen Klopp is well known for his amazing talent for acquiring the game’s future top players. Over the years, certain football players who were destined for the top slipped through the German’s clutches, though this is mostly due to his amazing man-management of these players.
During his time with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, Klopp was in charge of bringing players like Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah, and Virgil van Dijk to the top of their game. He could have added even more amazing additions to his resume.
Prior to moving to England and ending Liverpool’s 30-year drought for a top-flight trophy, he transformed Dortmund into a German team that won titles. His astute operations in the transfer market served as the cornerstone of this achievement. However, during a fundraiser in Cape Town, Klopp disclosed three huge talents he missed out on earlier in their careers, proving that things didn’t always go as planned.
The Biggest Transfer Market Misses for Jurgen Klopp
Mane Sadio
At Liverpool, Klopp and Sadio Mane would have a very successful partnership, winning both the Premier League and the Champions League together. Klopp’s failure to sign the Senegal international years ago at Dortmund may have contributed to his arrival at Anfield. The former Reds manager said:
“I have to apologise to the few Dortmund fans present since I did not sign Sadio Mane for Dortmund. Although I was young and naive, I wasn’t really either of those things.
“When we brought him to Liverpool, I realised. “Oh my God, that’s a lot of money for a guy I could have had for much less three years ago,” I thought.
Heung-min Son
The fact that Klopp was once eager to bring Son Heung-min to Liverpool may be well known to Liverpool fans. But the two also came very close to joining in the Bundesliga, with Dortmund just missing out on the South Korean winger, who was then a bright prospect at Hamburg. Klopp was unable to recall the precise reason the transaction fell through:
“I didn’t sign Tottenham’s Son. Hamburg, I believe, at the time. I can’t even recall why [we] didn’t sign him, but he was there.
“I just faced him in the Premier League and thought, ‘My God, you dumb s***’.'”
Kevin De Bruyne
Kevin De Bruyne, one of the best midfielders the Premier League has ever seen and a key player in Manchester City’s dominance during Klopp’s time at Liverpool, was once viewed as a Chelsea failure before moving to Wolfsburg, Germany, to rebuild his early career. On his way to the top, Dortmund had the opportunity to bring him to Signal Iduna Park, which could have drastically altered De Bruyne’s career path and Klopp’s fortunes in the latter years of his time at the club. The 57-year-old said: “Again to the Dortmund supporters, Kevin De Bruyne was that close. Then he smashed us in the cup final with Wolfsburg. So that was a double minus.”
“There’s a couple of Dortmund supporters here and I have to apologise because I didn’t sign Sadio Mane for Dortmund.” 🤣
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— The Redmen TV (@TheRedmenTV) March 7, 2025
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