Jurgen Klopp hasn’t ruled out becoming manager of Real Madrid but the Liverpool legend is also a long way from throwing his hat in the ring as he responds to speculation.

The 58-year-old – who left Liverpool in the summer of 2024 after revealing he had run out of energy – has been linked with the now vacant Real Madrid job after Xabi Alonso was given his marching orders last week.

Klopp is now the Global Head of Soccer at Red Bull and insists he’s happy in the role, but did leave the door to the Bernabeu ever-so-slightly ajar.

The former Premier League and Champions League winner told AFP: “I’m in a place, as a person, where I’m completely at peace with where I am. I don’t want to be somewhere else.

“I don’t get up and excited if Real Madrid are showing interest. If they would be — but it’s the media.

“Do I want to coach again? At the moment, I would say no, but I cannot say never, never, never.

“I don’t expect to change my mind, but I don’t know.”

He added: “When I heard the news about Xabi Alonso, it was a bit of a mix. Yes, I was surprised. And no, I wasn’t surprised.

“I was like ‘what?’ And ‘yeah, of course’. I have no clue why it happened, but it’s always a specific case and not a general problem, because what they see now, Real Madrid, is that bringing in just the next one is not that easy.

“I would recommend if you sack a manager, you better have an idea who you want to succeed him.

“And it should be realistic. If they think they can get Pep Guardiola, I would say there’s not a big chance.”

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Initially responding to the links last week, Klopp suggested that Alonso’s sacking shows that “something isn’t quite right” at Real Madrid.

He said: “First of all, I think it’s another sign that something isn’t quite right there at the moment.

“If Xabi Alonso, who over the last two years in Leverkusen has shown what an outstanding coaching talent he is – and I think at his age and with the number of jobs he’s had, you can say that — is then forced to leave Madrid just six months later, it shows a few things.

“On the one hand, it shows that nowadays there’s no time anymore. On the other, the expectations at Real Madrid are obviously enormous.

“To make a decision like that in the heat of the moment, after losing a cup final to Barcelona yesterday, says a lot. I think we’d already been hearing rumours for a while.

“And now – I don’t know if that’s where your question was going – but this has absolutely nothing to do with me, and it didn’t trigger anything for me either, which would probably have been the follow-up question.

“I was surprised, that’s true – genuinely surprised. Then a few people messaged me, and I replied with various emojis.”