Jamie Carragher has revealed that ex-Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was immediately concerned when Jurgen Klopp joined Liverpool.
United fell to another heavy defeat against Klopp’s side on Tuesday evening as ’s double, as well as goals from Luis Diaz and , sealed a 4-0 victory for Liverpool.
Klopp has already guided Liverpool to the Premier League title and has also won the , the Carabao Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the World Club Cup during his time at Anfield.
Klopp has the chance to win three more trophies this season as Liverpool remain in the race with to win the Premier League title, while they are in the semi-final of the Champions League and will play Chelsea in the FA Cup final next month.
And Carragher has revealed that Ferguson instantly knew that Liverpool had appointed a world-class manager in Klopp in 2015 and the Scot even said the move had him ‘worried’.
‘When you think of those managers, and I always think with the great managers, and we never had one who was acclaimed like a Ferguson, or what Jose [Mourinho] was at , or what [Arsene] Wenger was at , that’s what Klopp is right now,’ Carragher said on The Gary Neville Podcast.
‘I used to always feel [with] those managers, there was the fear but there was also the love – so the never wanted to let them down but they were absolutely terrified of them.
‘So when you see , he’s bigger than any player. If you ask any Liverpool player who they would ant to lose – Van Dijk or Jurgen Klopp, they’d say Van Dijk, I can absolutely assure you. Jurgen Klopp is an absolute god here, but with the players as well.
‘You can see and feel that energy from the side of the pitch. When Jurgen Klopp first came to Liverpool we knew he was a character, he was a personality, I actually said at the time this wasn’t a signing just for Liverpool, it was for the Premier League.
‘You knew there was something special. I played in a game at Old Trafford, I think it was Michael Carrick’s testimonial, and Alex Ferguson went around the dressing room shaking hands, saying ‘thanks for coming’, I think he was manager of one of the teams. Jurgen Klopp had been at the club about a month and he [Ferguson] came to me and said, ‘you’ve got a manager’. I went, ‘oh yeah, good, Jurgen Klopp’s made a decent start’, and he [Ferguson] went, ‘no, no, I’m worried’.
‘And that was at the time I think Manchester United were still above Liverpool, but he [Ferguson] knew through meeting him I think at the UEFA meetings or the Champions League, wherever it was, he could feel that sort of personality.
‘You talk about great managers and tactics and formations, the great managers all have that, of course they do, but it’s a force of personality, and that’s what Klopp has, that’s what Sir Alex Ferguson’s got.
‘I think at the end of his [Klopp’s] time, it will feel like when Bill Shankly left Liverpool. The feeling with Liverpool supporters already is, ‘he’s not going to go in two years is he?’. People are already thinking about that now because of the effect he’s had on this football club.’
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