Jurgen Klopp unveiled that Liverpool was the only club he spoke to before taking up at Anfield and denies the previous links with the German champions Bayern Munich.
The new Reds boss gave his first press conference in the job on Friday where he labelled himself as the “Normal one”.
The 48-year-old ex-Borussia Dortmund boss Klopp will take charge of Liverpool for the first time next week when they travel to Tottenham.
The trademark wide smile was rarely off his face and he seems genuinely delighted to be a manager of Liverpool. It’s a job that comes with enormous pressure, but everything the German said and did German said and did suggests he’s well equipped to deal with it.
He came across as supremely confident yet endearingly humble at the same time. He knows he’s good, he knows his methods work, but he’s not comfortable talking himself up and doesn’t revel in others doing it for him. He seemed baffled by the “Kloppomania” phenomenon that has accompanied his arrival on Merseyside and he seems eager for the training ground, where he is most comfortable.
The 48-year-old then spoke to Sky Sports in Germany where he insisted he never spoke to the Bavarian club and said he hopes former rival in the dugout Pep Guardiola stays at the Allianz Arena for the next decade.
“No, actually I don’t know anything about that and this is not relevant to me,” he said.
“Bayern is a fantastic club, but I don’t go on holidays and wait for someone to call me. I have done many things that I found interesting and exciting and I have used the time to meet loads of great people and I would have met many more.
“I never had a certain career plan and I can assure that I never talked to Bayern Munich. I also hope that Guardiola will stay there for another 10 years
“I didn’t want to train many clubs. Of course I had concrete offers but Liverpool is the only club I have actually spoken to.”
His appearance was smart and casual. While most would adopt a “dress to impress” mentality when meeting the press on the first day of a new job, Klopp is very much his own man and rocked up to Anfield in a pair of jeans, unbuttoned shirt with no tie and a black suit jacket. He was probably counting the minutes until he could get in tracksuit and baseball cap and take a training session.
No doubt there will be more in-depth interviews with him on tactics and individual players over the coming weeks and there were limits on how deeply he could get into things given the time restrictions. Even so, there was plenty for Kopites — or perhaps that should now be Kloppites to get excited about, not least the surprising statement, “When we’re sitting here in four years I’m pretty sure managers trying to talk down expectations, that was an eye-opener, to say the least,.we will have won one title in that time.” After countless years of Liverpool.
“Normally, I don’t think about press conferences and go there and just say what has to be said,” he said.
“This time I had to think about it a little bit, but I think it went well. This is, of course, not the most important appointment within the following years I will hopefully spend here, but, of course, I wouldn’t completely ignore it. Important is the performance on the pitch and I am happy that the last two days are finally over”.
“There won’t be any problem with the players as there are also loads of foreign players. My English is probably as bad as theirs so they will understand me a lot easier.”