Asked Jurgen Klopp to come back to Borussia Dortmund, admits Hans-Joachim Watzke
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Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has revealed that he tried to bring Jurgen Klopp back to the club in 2018. The Liverpool boss left Germany in 2015 and Dortmund have struggled to find the right manager for them although Lucien Favre has won plaudits for his performances since taking over.
After leaving Borussia Dortmund mid-way through the 2015/16 season, Jurgen Klopp joined Liverpool a few months later and has since led the Reds to success. They won the Champions League final at the end of last season and even finished the Premier League season just one point behind domestic treble winners Manchester City. It was the closest any side has ever come to not winning the title and in the process, Klopp helped Liverpool to their largest points total in the league.
However, it was the German’s spell at Dortmund that truly established him as an up and coming manager, with him winning two back-to-back titles in the Bundesliga. It broke Bayern Munich’s reign over the league with Dortmund reaching the Champions League final as well. But now in an interview, Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has admitted that he wanted to bring Klopp back to Germany. The German went on to add that with the club looking to appoint a new manager, he had to try and ask Klopp if he would like the job.
"I knew that Jurgen would decline, that he will fulfil his contract in Liverpool. Jurgen has always fulfilled his contracts, but if you want to go new ways and we had to break new ground at BVB, then at least I had to ask Jurgen if he could possibly imagine that. I did not expect that at all, but I would not have forgiven myself for not asking him at that moment," Watzke wrote in his new book REAL LOVE. A life with BVB.
The Reds have started their league season brilliantly and are already eight points clear of second-place Manchester City. Not only that, but they are also the only team in Europe’s top five leagues to maintain a winning start to their season, with Klopp looking to break Manchester City’s league record of 18 game consecutive games with a win after the international break. Watzke went on to add that Klopp’s success with Liverpool, Dortmund and Mainz is due to the fact that he’s always honest.
"The most important thing in our relationship was and is that we can rely on each other blindly. Jurgen never lied to me. He is always honest, even in the job. And I never lied to him. Even in the most difficult phase, in the season of separation, when we crashed to the last place sometime shortly before the separation in the Bundesliga, that was the case,” concluded Watzke.
