Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has closed the door on any potential move to Real Madrid following the sacking of Xabi Alonso, stressing that the Spaniard’s departure “has nothing to do with me.”
The 58-year-old German has not taken charge of a football team since leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2024, admitting that he needed a break as he was “running out of energy.” He currently serves as Red Bull’s global head of football.
When asked if his phone had started ringing after Alonso’s departure, Klopp told Austrian channel Servus TV:
“I think the rumors have been circulating for some time now. And I know exactly what your question is getting at, but it has nothing to do with me.
My phone did actually ring, but not from Madrid. There were, however, a few people who felt they needed to bring it up with me.
In general, it’s a sign that not everything there is 100 per cent right when Xabi Alonso, who showed over two years in Leverkusen what an outstanding coaching talent he is, has to leave Real Madrid just half a year later.
When you come in after a legend and an incredibly successful coach like Carlo Ancelotti, who had a very specific way of managing his teams, and then try to introduce new rules, that has now proven to be too difficult. I really feel sorry for him, because I consider him a great coach.”
Klopp was quick to emphasize that he is happy in his current role, adding:
“It has nothing to do with me and didn’t trigger anything in me either.
The coaching market is being reshuffled, and it’s not a bad thing to experience all of this from an observer’s perspective and not think about what it means for yourself, because you’re in the right place where you are.”
Real Madrid announced on Monday that Xabi Alonso had mutually agreed to step down after less than eight months in charge. Alvaro Arbeloa, who had been managing Real Madrid B for the first half of the 2025/26 season, was swiftly named as his successor.
