Jürgen Klopp Recalls Feeling of First Phone Call With Liverpool

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has confessed he could hardly contain his excitement when he first learned that the Reds were interested in hiring him back in 2015.

After overseeing a disappointing start to the 2014/15 season, then-manager Brendan Rodgers was given his marching orders in the aftermath of a 1-1 draw with Everton, after which Liverpool set their sights on Klopp.

The German, who was planning on taking an extended break after leaving Borussia Dortmund that summer, told the club's official website that he was enjoying a holiday when he first learned of Liverpool's interest, but he couldn't help but cut things short to get a deal done with the Reds.

"It made all the rest happen,” he recalled. “I cannot forget the moment when I got the call from my agent that Liverpool is interested. And the feeling I had in that moment.

“I said it a couple of times, I was completely in a holiday mood; we were in Portugal, in Lisbon, with the family, both boys were with us. Ulla and I were sitting in an outside coffee bar.

“Actually I didn’t take a lot of phone calls in that time, it was like: ‘Come on, don’t bother me.’ But then I saw it and it was like I had a feeling it could be something interesting. So I take the phone and he tells me, and I felt the excitement inside.

"But because of all the things I said before to my family, I couldn’t immediately say: ‘Yes! Let’s do it!’ I had to ask: ‘What’s your opinion?’ I still remember both boys were like: ‘Yes!’ We look at Ulla and she looked at all three of us: ‘Oh, it looks like the holiday is over!’"

After being given the backing of his family, with whom he had promised to spend a little more time, Klopp quickly made it clear to Liverpool officials that he wanted to get things finalised.

“It was just a really nice moment to have it together," he added. "There was nothing decided in that moment, it was not that I spoke to anybody else. We flew home, Mike Gordon called me then two days later, one day later, whatever. Then I flew over to New York and all that stuff.

“But this very first moment when I got aware of the interest of Liverpool was already pretty special. And from that moment on it got better and better.”

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