Jurgen Klopp tipped to return as former Liverpool boss hints at true feelings about comeback
Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeness believes that former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will soon return to management
Global head of Football at Red Bull Jurgen Klopp gestures during the French L1 football match between Paris FC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) at Jean Bouin stadium in Paris(Image: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
Jurgen Klopp has been tipped to return to management despite the former Liverpool manager continuing to insist he currently has no intention of returning to the dugout. The German stepped down as Reds boss at the end of the 2023/24 season after a trophy-laden nine years at Anfield.
He would later return to football by joining the Red Bull group in January 2025 as their new Head of Global Football, while it was revealed last month that he had also taken up a new role with the German Football League (DFL), as he joined an expert group aimed at improving the nation’s game.
Meanwhile, Klopp recently revealed that he would be returning to the sidelines in 2026 as a pundit for next summer’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
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Signing up with Magenta TV, the German could not resist playfully teasing a return to the sidelines before the reality of his next role became clear as he again shot down suggestions of a managerial return.
However, Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeness believes Klopp will return to his managerial roots sooner rather than later, admitting that he cannot see the German enjoying a lengthy stint with the Red Bull group.
“I could never imagine him as an official who travels around the country, to New York, and looks after the different teams,” he told OMR Podcast, as quoted by Tagesspiegel. “And I don’t think that will be a good model in the long run. I also don’t think he’ll do that forever, I can’t imagine it.
“I have always admired Jurgen Klopp as a coach who is on the pitch, who develops a team, who moves a team forward with his personality. I see Jurgen Klopp on the pitch and nowhere else.”
Klopp did set tongues wagging last month when he opted against completing ruling out the possibility of a return to Liverpool as manager one day, with such talk only heightening in recent weeks as the Reds’ struggles under Arne Slot continue.
“I said I will never coach a different team in England,” he said on the Diary of a CEO podcast. “So that means if it’s Liverpool, yeah. So yeah, theoretically it’s possible.”
However, in the same interview he reiterated that he does not miss management and was happy in his role with the Red Bull Group.
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Meanwhile, Klopp also hinted to his true feelings – and misgivings – about returning to a former club when elaborating on his decision to reject Manchester United’s advances prior to taking over at Liverpool and addressing the Red Devils’ decision to re-sign both Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It’s difficult, we’re not in a private space but there are some reasons but the people in that conversation that I didn’t like,” he said. “So, United was that big ‘we get all the players we want, we get him, we get him, we get him’ and I was sitting there like ‘huh?’.
“It was not my project, it didn’t feel like my project, it was the wrong time but on top of that, it was not my project. I didn’t want to bring back [Paul] Pogba, Pogba is a sensational player my god, but these things don’t work usually.
“Or Cristiano [Ronaldo] my god we all know he’s the best player in the world together with [Lionel] Messi. Bringing him back never helps, in that time in 2013, it was not about Cristiano, maybe Paul I’m not sure but the idea was, ‘we bring the best players together then let’s go’.
“Not at all [about the football] then I sat there like it wasn’t for me. Then the pure football project comes up and a sensational talk to Mike Gordon [Fenway Sports Group president] that’s really important as well.
“He’s the owner but John [Henry] and Tom [Werner], after the talk I wanted to be Mike’s friend, he was such a nice guy. After that, it was pretty special.”
