Jurgen Klopp has dismissed rumours that he will be taking over as Real Madrid manager in the summer as being “all nonsense”.
Klopp, 58, was coach of Liverpool for nine years, leaving the English Premier League club at the end of the 2023-24 season after a trophy-laden spell in charge.
While the German has always insisted that he has no intention of taking charge at any of that organisation's stable of clubs, Klopp has also never ruled out a return to management.
And there has recently been speculation that Spanish giants Real Madrid have come knocking on his door as a potential replacement for Alvaro Arbeloa at the end of the current campaign.
Klopp, though, has shot down these claims. “It's good that we're talking about this,” he told reporters in Munich on Monday at the launch of German TV and streaming platform Magenta TV's Fifa World Cup coverage for the upcoming summer tournament, when Klopp will be a pundit.
“When is a story a story? When someone takes a sheet of paper and writes something on it? Or when there's actually something to it?
“What does the situation have to be? That Real Madrid called me at some point and said: '[club president] Florentino Perez on the phone! Jurgen, how are things?' Or is it enough if OE24 [an Austrian media outlet] – no idea whether that's AI or written by people – writes some rubbish?
“[The speculation] annoys me,” he added. “If Real Madrid had phoned, we would have heard about it by now. But that's all nonsense.
“They haven't called even once, not once. My agent is there, you can ask him. They haven't called him either.
“I'll take over at Atletico Madrid as well, preferably at the same time. Sorry Madrid, you'll have to ring first!"
As for the idea that he could return to full-time coaching, Klopp was less clear cut. “Right now I'm not thinking about that, luckily there's no reason to,” he said.
“For my age I'm quite advanced in life, but as a coach I'm not completely finished. I haven't reached retirement age. Who knows what will happen in the coming years? But there's nothing planned.”
Arbeloa only replaced the sacked Xabi Alonso in January and, after a sticky start which saw Real beaten by second division Albacete in his first game and a toxic atmosphere among the fan base, has steadied the ship at the Bernabeu.
On Sunday, Real fought back from being a goal down at half-time to defeat city rivals Atletico Madrid 3-2, despite going down to 10 men with 13 minutes to go when Federico Valverde – scorer of the second goal – was shown a straight red card.
Victory leaves Los Blancos second in the table, four points behind Barcelona with the two teams set to clash at Camp Nou on May 10.
Before then, Real take on Bayern Munich in the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals following their 5-1 aggregate win over Manchester City in the last 16.
“Bayern are one of the most in-form teams in Europe, with the way they play football and the level they have,” Arbeloa said of taking on the German outfit who lead the Bundesliga by nine points.
“It’s going to be just as difficult as this tie, and with the second leg in Munich, no less. As we always say: if you want to be European champion, you have to beat the best.”
Since a shock 1-0 home loss to Getafe five weeks ago, Real are enjoying a five-game winning streak across all competitions, easing the pressure on Arbeloa and his players.
When asked after the derby win what has changed at the club since taking charge, Arbeloa said: “I'm getting to know them more and more. I arrived at a time when I practically had no time to work with them, to understand where they felt comfortable, and to see how they mixed with each other.
“For me, it's not easy to arrive mid-season and observe how the team functions, and that’s what has changed over these two months. Now I know my players personally and professionally, where I can get the best performance from them, and where I can make adjustments.
“Surely, I still have a lot to learn because we’re gradually recovering players I haven’t worked with yet, such as [Eder] Militao. [Jude] was able to play today after a long time, so we’re in constant evolution with a lot of room for improvement.”
