Jurgen Klopp had five-word response when rejecting chance to manage Premier League side

Jurgen Klopp revealed he turned down an offer to manage West Ham shortly before accepting the Liverpool job. The German – who left the Reds earlier this summer after eight-and-a-half years – revealed “it was the wrong time” to join the Hammers despite being out of work at the time.

Klopp is without doubt the most successful Liverpool manager this century, having won every possible trophy with the Reds while forming a deep connection with the club and its fans. The 57-year-old announced in January this year that he would be leaving Anfield at the end of the 2023/24 season.

He had managed Borussia Dortmund beforehand – another club where he left a significant impact and is still adored today. Yet both his and Liverpool’s fortunes would have been drastically different had he accepted an offer to manage West Ham in the summer of 2015, just months before he took charge of the Reds.

Hammers owner David Sullivan claimed that they were “two hours” away from appointing Klopp. Sullivan revealed that he had ambitiously approached the in-demand head coach that summer when searching for a successor to Sam Allardyce. But Klopp informed Sullivan that he wanted to take a break from football, having only recently left Dortmund, which in turn led the Irons to pursue Slaven Bilic.

Acknowledging that there was indeed other interest after being named Liverpool boss, Klopp said in a press conference: “I’m not sure if I should say too much about this but in the summer I was not available for anybody because I was sure I needed a few days for myself without thinking too much about football. That’s what I did.

“I’m a lucky guy so there was a lot of interest from different clubs and if West Ham want to talk about this, they can do it. It’s a really good club but it was the wrong time for all of the clubs that were interested.

“So nothing to do with West Ham or whatever. When I think about West Ham everything is okay. I wasn’t available so I didn’t think too much about it.”

Klopp also laughed as he responded to Allardyce’s brash comments about him following a touchline altercation when Liverpool met the newly-appointed Sunderland manager that season. Allardyce had called Klopp a “soft German”, which Klopp acknowledged in the press conference as he said: “The Hammers – maybe it’s more like my second name than ‘soft.'”

His decision to snub West Ham in hindsight was clearly the right call. While the Irons have managed to maintain their position as a Premier League club and even won the Europa Conference League in 2023, Klopp’s tenure at Liverpool has been nothing short of legendary.

The German tactician not only secured Liverpool’s first Premier League title but also led them to three Champions League finals, triumphing in 2019. He was the only manager to be able to keep up with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City juggernaut year after year.

Beyond his tactical genius, Klopp’s ‘heavy metal’ football and staunch defence of the sport’s core values resonated deeply, making him a moral compass even on issues outside football. His departure in May left an indelible mark on Liverpool, with fans and the city feeling the void left by his exit.