Juergen Klopp expressed excitement on Tuesday about his new job as head of global soccer at Red Bull while also dismissing any suggestion the role could be a precursor to returning to management in the near future.

The former Liverpool manager was appointed to the role last year and started in January.

“I finished seven months ago at Liverpool and I did it consciously. I said I am not the right man for the job anymore but I never said I wouldn’t work again, and a few months later the opportunity came up,” the German said at a press conference at the energy drinks company’s headquarters in Salzburg, Austria. “I wanted to be part of it and now I realise more and more every day not only that I am excited but also that I can be quite useful.”

Klopp insisted he was happy to be away from the daily grind of club management after more than two decades working in a dugout almost without a break.

The 57-year-old insisted he had no intention of using his new position as a shortcut to eventually returning to coaching at one of Red Bull’s clubs, even if he did not entirely rule out the possibility of managing a team again at some point in the future.

“I will not be the coach of a Red Bull team, that is a clear commitment,” he said.
“I guarantee that I will not be a coach but I am probably the only person in this room who will be asked where I might be in four or five years — nobody has a clue where they will be in five years.”

Red Bull’s footballing empire is headed by Bundesliga side RB Leipzig in Klopp’s home country, and also features Red Bull Salzburg in Austria as well as MLS’s New York Red Bulls.

RB Leipzig is unloved by many fans of the traditional heavyweights in German soccer and Klopp — as the former coach of Borussia Dortmund — has come in for criticism over his decision to sign for Red Bull.

“I respect and accept all opinions, but in my mind the people in our clubs deserve the best possible and that is what we try to deliver,” he said.

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