Pressed on what circumstances would have to unfold to pull him back to the dugout, Klopp admitted he was not instantly drawn to getting back in thick of the job.
“I don’t even know exactly, I love what I do right now,” he said.
“I don’t miss coaching; I don’t miss standing in the rain for two-and-a-half or three hours; I don’t miss going to press conferences four times, three times a week or having 10-12 interviews a week.
“I don’t miss the dressing room as a dressing room, but sitting in a restaurant with the players having a nice chat, that’s nice. We won a lot of games so there was often a very good mood in the building. I still have Virgil [van Dijk’s] laugh in my ear for example.”
Klopp was full of praise for his successor Slot, crediting him for the tweaks that brought the title last term. However, Liverpool have lost four in a row in all competitions after their home defeat by Manchester United on Sunday.
This follows a summer spending spree, but Klopp rubbished Bartlett’s suggestion that it could be the start of a downward turn.
“You wish!” he told the United fan.
“[They have] an incredible striker in Flo Wirtz, you will all eat your words if you use the wrong words. He’s an incredible talent. [Hugo] Ekitike, incredible player. It’s a really good, well-judged squad.
“You don’t have to worry about Liverpool, they will be fine.”
Klopp spoke emotionally about the death of Diogo Jota, a player he signed in 2020, and its impact on Liverpool. The Portugal international was killed in a car crash alongside his brother in July.
“How do you replace somebody like Diogo? It’s not about the player himself, it’s the guy he was,” Klopp added.
“I can’t imagine the dressing room without him in it, that’s so hard. I still cannot speak properly about it. It was an incredible shock for all the boys as well.
“Nobody at Liverpool will ever use it as an excuse but it is the situation. You walk in a dressing room where he was omnipresent… dealing with that on a personal level is not easy. Impossible.”
