Jurgen Klopp’s infamous move to Red Bull may not have happened without encouragement from Liverpool.
The Champions League winner stepped away from coaching in 2024, and half-a-year later was back in the game, but as an executive.
His deal to become Red Bull’s ‘Head of Global Soccer’ went down terribly in Germany due to their ownership of Leipzig which has been accused of circumventing numerous Bundesliga rules.
Fans of former sides Borussia Dortmund and Mainz both criticised Klopp, with the latter even making an unflattering effigy of him at their carnival.
All of this was predicted by his agent Marc Kosicke, who said: “Of course, we discussed the topic beforehand.
“I said to Jürgen, ‘You do realise that your popularity is likely to drop by 50 percent, right?’”
However, he then got on the phone to one of Liverpool’s top brass.
“I called his former owner, Mike Gordon of the Fenway Sports Group, and asked for his opinion,” he continued.
“He thought Red Bull was fantastic and that it would be a perfect fit for Jürgen.
“Mike Gordon explained: There are eight billion people in the world, 80 million of them in Germany – including 30 million football fanatics, with perhaps one million fans from Dortmund and Mainz.
“Of those, a few hundred thousand are real hardcore fans and ultras. How many is that compared to the eight billion?
“Everywhere else in the world, Red Bull is viewed exclusively positively. That’s why we shouldn’t worry about it. That’s how Jürgen and I saw it too.
“He said he stood behind it. Why should it diminish what he had achieved in Dortmund and Mainz? And if people saw it differently, that was their right.”
Jurgen Klopp could’ve joined Red Bull in 2008
Kosicke also went on to add that Klopp first spoke to Red Bull back in 2008 when he was about to join Salzburg.
However, one Klopp complaint about training conditions put an end to such a move.
“It all started back in 2008. Jürgen was supposed to become the coach of FC Red Bull Salzburg at the time; he was still in Mainz then,” the agent recalled.
“I had discussed the contract beforehand. Thomas Linke was the sporting director and told me I should just inform Dietrich Mateschitz of the terms myself.
“Afterwards, I stood before Mr. Mateschitz and told him what we wanted and that the artificial turf had to go.
“He turned around and left; that was the end of it.
“Jürgen met Mateschitz himself one day when he was already ill. It was simply a meeting.
“Mateschitz said to Jürgen, “It would be nice if you were to take over the football department here someday.” But he was still a long way from that.”
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