Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed why he turned down the chance to replace Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in 2013.

Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp said that while Manchester United were interested in him when he was coaching Borussia Dortmund, he didn’t feel it was the right time — or the right project.

Then, two years later, he ended up moving to England and joining Liverpool, where he made history over the next nine years.

Revealing he once had an opportunity to join United instead, Klopp said: 'In the year when Sir Alex retired, they spoke to me. Of course, they were interested at one point. At that time, I would have been interested, I was young — I had a sensational team at Dortmund. They probably thought, "What is he doing there?"

'Later on I heard that my players — James Milner and Adam Lallana — they flew to Real Madrid when we (Dortmund) had a semi-final there in the Champions League just to watch us play. "What is Dortmund doing? What football that is". I mean, you cannot get a bigger compliment. 

'United tried (to approach me). It was wrong time, wrong moment. I had a contract at Dortmund and wouldn’t have left for anybody. They wanted a new manager and I was one of a few options I think.'

Asked if he turned Manchester United down rather than the other way around, Klopp replied 'yes' before adding: 'There were some things in the conversations that I didn't like. The idea was that big — "We get all the players we want, we get him, we get him" — and I was sitting there thinking this is not my project. It was the wrong time but on top of that it was not my project.'