It's now no secret that Jurgen Klopp is at the top of Florentino Perez's wishlist to replace Xabi Alonso as Real Madrid manager. The German coach is out of management at the moment and he is reportedly viewed as a "dream" appointment.
Klopp has already responded to speculation over a possible return to the dugout with Madrid by downplaying the possibility. He suggested the club had issues after handing Alonso just six months of a three-year contract.
The 58-year-old insisted he was happy in his role as Head of Soccer at Red Bull and his interview certainly looked to have quashed rumors of him taking charge of Los Blancos in the summer.
But that might not be the case given reports coming out of Germany that he would give real consideration about replacing Alonso. He has been a massive success as a coach, particularly at Liverpool where he transformed the Merseyside giants into Premier League champions after a 30-year title drought.
Klopp's comments might be a ruse
Alvaro Arbeloa has replaced Alonso as caretaker manager and it's believed he'll be in charge of Madrid until the end of the season. This means the club's board will be looking at potential long-term candidates in the background.
Klopp is one of them given his resume and availability despite his comments in response to the vacancy. He might be telling the public that he isn't interested in the Estadio Bernabeu job but reporters in Germany state otherwise.
Sky Sport Germany's Florian Plettenberg claims that Klopp is "seriously attracted" to Madrid. He suggests that it might be a case of waiting until the summer to make an approach.
Plettenberg said that the German would "seriously consider a return to coaching" with Los Blancos. He left Liverpool after the 2023-24 campaign having won every major trophy on offer at Anfield.
"Jurgen Klopp would seriously consider joining Real Madrid" 🚨
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 13, 2026
Florian Plettenberg with the latest on the fallout from Real Madrid sacking Xabi Alonso, where Jurgen Klopp still remains a candidate for Real Madrid and the former Liverpool manager is interested by the job ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/rFmgcjIoqd
Klopp oversaw 304 wins in 489 games as manager at Anfield and took the Reds back to the top of English football. He was also a success at Borussia Dortmund, guiding them to two Bundesliga titles at the expense of Bayern Munich.
Jurgen Klopp is the ideal candidate
Alonso was highly-admired when he returned to the Bernabeu as manager following a glistening period of his playing career spent with Los Blancos. But he didn't seem to have the character to deal with big personalities in the dressing room.
There were constant rumors of issues between the manager and his players, particularly Vinicius Junior. Such was the tension between the pair that the Brazilian put contract talks on hold to wait out the Spaniard who was dismissed on January 12th.
Klopp is one of football's most colorful coaches who immediately makes his players invest in his vision. We saw it at Liverpool where he was able to take a floundering side with no real top class talent and build a dominant European team who went to war with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.
A similar scenario could ensue between Klopp and Hansi Flick's Barcelona if he were to replace Alonso. He feels the ideal man to take Madrid into a new era and he'd have the full backing of Perez and the board.