The Jurgen Klopp era at Liverpool was marked by significant success, excellent recruitment, and the addition of numerous trophies to the club’s collection. However, Klopp himself admitted that one of the “biggest mistakes” of his career was failing to sign a Premier League star.
Klopp’s tenure at Anfield, which spanned 489 games and reached its peak between 2018 and 2020 with back-to-back Premier League and Champions League victories, ended in the summer when Arne Slot took over.
While Slot’s early days in charge have been promising, it’s difficult to imagine that his success would have been possible without the strong foundation laid by Klopp since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund in 2015.
The Stuttgart-born Klopp, recognized as one of football’s greatest man-managers, had the privilege of working with some of the Premier League’s most lethal forwards, including Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
However, in 2022, Klopp admitted in an interview with KBS News that one of his biggest regrets was not securing the signing of Son Heung-min, now the captain of Tottenham Hotspur. Son has since scored 172 goals and provided 92 assists in 441 appearances for Spurs.
In the latter part of 2022, Klopp and his team faced Tottenham, but Son was unavailable due to recovering from surgery on a broken eye socket, allowing Liverpool to win 2-1. Despite the victory, Klopp expressed his hope that Son would recover in time for the World Cup and acknowledged his regret at not having signed him for Liverpool.
Klopp remarked, “One of the biggest mistakes in my life was not signing him. Outstanding, world-class, and one of the best strikers in the world. I heard he’ll be alright. Maybe need to wear a mask, but even with a mask, he’ll be fine.”
Tottenham, under Mauricio Pochettino, signed Son from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2015 for just £22 million. Since then, he has developed into one of the world’s top wingers, forming a formidable partnership with Harry Kane before the latter’s move to Bayern Munich. In addition to his goal-scoring contributions, Son’s off-the-ball work and leadership have been integral to Tottenham’s success.
Now 32 years old, the South Korean international, with 131 caps and 51 goals for his country, has faced Liverpool 19 times between 2015 and 2025. During those encounters, he has scored three goals and registered four assists.
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