Key Liverpool figure admits Manchester United wanted him

It was a big honour, the whole talk, to be honest.

‘I didn’t hear about a real offer (from United) but, if there was, I could not have done it, ‘ Klopp is quoted as saying in the Daily Mail.

“Ferguson has also praised Klopp in the past, telling ESPN, “[Klopp has a] strong personality, very strong, very stubborn, determined and and his career at Dortmund was a stellar rise to the top and I think he’ll do very well”. It was the same at Mainz’.

Beer company Warsteiner is attempting to take advantage of the Liverpool manager’s popularity in the city that now homes him and throughout the country by recruiting Klopp to be the face of the campaign for their non-alcoholic beer.

But Klopp did not disguise his esteem for Ferguson (below).

“The only way is to be your own biggest critic, always looking at yourself and, after every goal, standing in front of the mirror and asking: ‘Well, could you?’ If you are objective enough to say: ‘I could have done this, this and that’s, all the other critics and all the other voices are really not important and don’t exist anymore”.

“As a manager it is the best thing you can do, to sit there and listen – I needed 10 minutes to understand it all but maybe he is the greatest ever, the John Lennon of football or something”.

“Maybe he is the greatest ever, the John Lennon of football or something like this”, added Klopp.

“‘I’m anxious about him”, Ferguson admitted. “What he did is not easy for another manager to do”.

“Louis van Gaal is one of the most successful managers in the world”.

Liverpool have not been champions since 1990.

Although Klopp would not criticise Van Gaal’s approach, which has angered United fans, he insists it is not a way he can operate.

“What he said about me, I don’t know, I didn’t read it, but I think it was positive because we had a good time together”. We are in transition and we are going in the right way.

The last time Klopp and Van Gaal went head-to-head, Dortmund beat Bayern Munich 3-1 in February 2011 en route to winning the Bundesliga.