Red Bull chief reveals when secret Jurgen Klopp talks first began | OneFootball

Red Bull chief Oliver Mintzlaff has admitted he first spoke with Jurgen Klopp about working together over two years ago.

After stepping down from his post as Liverpool manager during the summer, Klopp was unveiled as Red Bull's new global head of soccer - a position he will take up on January 1. The timing of the appointment, coupled with Red Bull's unpopularity in German football, saw Klopp attract immense criticism for taking the job.

According to Mintzlaff, talks with Klopp had been going on for over two years, with things progressing rapidly this summer when the former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund boss finally gave his full approval.

"Over the last 20 years, I have experienced, helped shape and negotiated many negotiations in football. I have to say that when he got the yes, it was the easiest," Mintzlaff told BILD. "Not because we offered him an unbelievable financial package, on the contrary. We spoke about the financial side for 20 seconds because he said he was up for the task. I hope he doesn't hear that now, because then he'll think that he and his advisor negotiated poorly!

"But no, financially it took 20 seconds. When the yes was there, it was one of the easiest negotiations I've conducted in 20 years.

Klopp left Liverpool in the summer / Clive Brunskill/GettyImages

"It took a long time. It was a very, very long process. The first idea was more than two years ago, when I first spoke to Jurgen about it. He said: 'I think that's great, I think that's impressive, not just what's happening in football, but also the sports Red Bull is involved in, how much is being done for young talent...'. That always interested him and excited him. So we always kept in touch and I didn't let up.

"But at some point he told me that he was extending his stay in Liverpool and that was of course a disappointment for me because that little door was then closed.

"When he announced his departure, we met at his place in Liverpool a few months later and I started again with my topic and told him a lot of things, where I think we could use him and that it would be an exciting task for him. And then he said: 'All right, let's do it'. I had to slap myself in the face. Then he agreed and I quickly drew up the contracts."