Klopp has been linked with taking over as manager of Real Madrid. It is claimed that Jürgen Klopp wants two Real Madrid players to leave the club if he becomes the club’s new manager.
Real Madrid sacked former midfielder Xabi Alonso earlier this month, after less than eight months in charge. He was immediately replaced by another former Real Madrid player, Álvaro Arbeloa, who was brought up from recruit team Castilla.
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His time as boss started in the worst possible way, when Real were knocked out of the Copa del Rey in the third round by second-division club Albacete.
But “Los Blancos” came back with a 2-0 win over Levante in La Liga, before beating Monaco 6-1 at the Bernabéu in the Champions League.
Details of Arbeloa’s appointment – such as the length of the contract – have been few and far between, with Real only going so far as to announce that he was the new head coach when Alonso left.
This has opened the door to speculation that the Spaniard himself could be replaced at the end of the season.
Diario AS reports that the name of former Liverpool boss Klopp was mentioned in connection with the job by Real management earlier this month, but that any plans to hire him are currently “put on hold”.
The German is currently the global head of football at Red Bull, and when asked about the Real rumours by The Athletic, Klopp admitted that he was “partly amused and partly annoyed”.
“I know I can coach a soccer team, but that doesn’t mean I have to make it my last day… I don’t want to be anywhere else,” he said.
However, Madrid-based Defensa Central claims that if Klopp were to be approached by Real and decide to take over, he would want to sell two players.
According to the source, full-backs Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy would be the first two players out the door as part of Klopp’s rebuild.
Carvajal is in direct competition for a right-back spot with Trent Alexander-Arnold, whom Klopp developed into one of the world’s best attacking full-backs at Liverpool.
He returned from a cruciate ligament injury (ACL) last year, and his contract with Real expires this summer when he is 34 years old.
Mendy, on the other hand, has been plagued by recurring muscle injury issues throughout much of his time in Spain. They have been so serious this season that they have limited him to just two minutes of playing time in La Liga and a single appearance in the Champions League.
The 30-year-old French left-back suffered a calf injury – his fourth injury in 12 months – earlier in January, and it is currently keeping him out of action.
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