Jürgen Klopp lashed out at “nonsense” reports linking him with the Real Madrid job, insisting he has had zero contact with Los Blancos since the turn of the year.
Xabi Alonso’s departure from Madrid in January prompted a wave of speculation linking Klopp with the job, even after Álvaro Arbeloa was named the new manager. His initial responses were non-committal but the former Liverpool boss has now firmly ended suggestions of possible negotiations with Madrid.
“It’s good that we’re talking about this,” Klopp told reporters when asked about the ongoing Madrid links during a recent media appearance.
“When is a story a story? When someone takes a sheet of paper and writes something on it? Or when there’s actually something to it?
“What would the situation have to be like? Real Madrid calling me and saying, ‘Hey Jürgen,’ ... Can you imagine it? [President] Florentino Pérez on the phone saying, ‘Jürgen, how are you? Are you interested?’
“Or is it enough for some media outlet—I don’t know if it’s AI or if there are real people behind it—to write any old rubbish? It bothers me. And then I have to be constantly responding.
“You really need to have a bit of discipline here. If Real Madrid had called, it would have come out eventually. But all this is nonsense. They haven’t called even once, not once. My agent is there, you can ask him. They haven’t called him either.
“Imagine how long this has been going on. And I’m supposed to be coaching Atlético Madrid too, maybe at the same time? You really need to question this a bit.”
Arbeloa ‘Winning Over’ Real Madrid’s Biggest Stars
Much of the speculation linking Klopp with Madrid grew during the early months of Arbeloa’s tenure, which fell well short of expectations as the team failed to seal automatic qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Suggestions that Arbeloa could be sacked before the end of the season have faded in recent weeks, however, after the team got itself back on track. Not only did Madrid fight through the Champions League playoffs in difficult circumstances, but they made light work of Manchester City in the last 16 to set up a meeting with Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals.
According to MARCA, the boss has done enough to convince most of Madrid’s biggest names that he deserves to keep the job beyond this season.
Vinicius Junior and Federico Valverde are named as being supportive of Arbeloa, as are Thibaut Courtois, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Antonio Rüdiger.
Even Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé, who have missed significant spells with injury, have appreciated the manager’s conduct surrounding their absences.
A locker-room divide is understood to have soured Alonso’s brief tenure at the Bernabéu. But Arbeloa has encountered no such issues and, while results on the pitch will always play a part, the squad are believed to be firmly behind his continuation beyond this season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘That Annoys Me’—Jurgen Klopp Fumes in Latest Response to Real Madrid Links.
