Jurgen Klopp has revealed missing out on Tottenham Hotspur skipper Heung-min Son left him feeling like a ‘dumb s***’.
The ex-Liverpool boss has opened up on the two current Premier League stars he regrets not signing from his glittering 23-year managerial career.
Klopp spent nine years at Anfield between 2015-2024 where he worked alongside some of the world’s best players.
The Reds wouldn’t be where they are today without the German’s signings in Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker just to name a few.
And in 2016, he corrected one of his regrets by securing the services of Sadio Mane from Southampton – a player he missed out on while at the helm of Borussia Dortmund.
Mane at the time was starring in Austria at Red Bull Salzburg – one of the clubs Klopp now oversees in his Global Head of Soccer role at Red Bull.
But two players evaded Klopp at Signal Iduna Park – both who have gone on to become Premier League icons.
Son – now at Spurs – was linked with a move to Dortmund while playing at Hamburg, but he instead ended up at Bayer Leverkusen before moving to north London in 2015.
Meanwhile the other player is none other than Manchester City captain Kevin De Bruyne – who starred at Wolfsburg between 2013-2015.
He even scored in the DFB-Pokal final victory over Dortmund in 2015, before joining the Citizens a few months.
Speaking at a recent event in Cape Town to celebrate the ten-year anniversary celebration of Hout Bay United Football Community, Klopp commented on the players that got away.
The 57-year-old said: “I could’ve signed Son from Tottenham. At that time, he was at Hamburg.
“I don’t even remember why [I didn’t sign him] and just facing him in the Premier League, I thought ‘My God, you dumb s*** [for not signing him].’ It’s crazy.
“Kevin De Bruyne was that close. Then he smashed us in the cup final with Wolfsburg, so that was a double minus.
“Though I don’t think it generally makes too much sense to regret stuff, but you did the best probably at the time, so deal with it.”
As for now-Al Nassr star Mane, he remarked: “There’s a Dortmund supporter in here so I have to apologise to him. Because I didn’t sign Sadio Mane for Dortmund.
“I could say I was young and naive, but I wasn’t that young and naive.
“I realised it when he came to Liverpool, I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s a lot of money for a guy I could have had three years ago for much less.’”
