Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has praised the quality of MLS and said the league will continue to grow in the next five years, while visiting with the New York Red Bulls this week.
Klopp, who was appointed head of global soccer with Red Bull after leaving Liverpool last year, took in training with the MLS club ahead of Saturday’s Hudson River derby against rivals New York City FC.
And the German coach said he has been impressed with the level of play in MLS.
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“I’m 100% sure, in five years time, we [will] speak completely differently,” Klopp said before he attended Saturday’s rivalry match in Harrison, New Jersey. “I’m really sure it will grow and grow and grow.
“The kids coming up, starting playing soccer earlier, training, getting better. Obviously, the place where you can play and train getting better. Everywhere.
“I can tell you, the quality is really, really good. Good players, a lot of talent, high intensity. All these things you want to see when you watch it in a stadium or in television. I think [MLS] found its spot and now let’s work with it.”
MLS clubs spent a record total of close to $336 million on transfers in 2025, nearly doubling the previous record spend in a calendar year, as the league looks to close the gap to the top competitions in Europe.
The league’s reputation has grown since the arrival of record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi to Inter Miami in 2023. South Korea star Son Heung-Min was the most high-profile arrival in 2025, joining for an MLS-record $26 million fee from Premier League Tottenham Hotspur.
The New York Red Bulls are one of several clubs owned by the energy drink brand that Klopp now helps oversee, along with RB Leipzig in Germany, Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg and Bragantino in Brazil.
Despite Klopp’s presence, the New York Red Bulls fell 3-2 to NYCFC on Saturday. The result left Sandro Schwarz’s team in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and with a steep task to extend its record run of 15 straight playoff appearances.
“I don’t think we played exactly the season we wanted to play, but that’s OK, that happens, but we are still in a position to fight for it,” Klopp said ahead of the game. And that’s exactly the vibe I realized. That’s the mood. … What I saw now gives me a really positive feeling.”
Klopp also gave a big thumbs up to the Red Bulls’ new training facility in Morris Township, New Jersey.
“Massively, massively impressed,” he said. “This is outstanding. It’s something you never really can dream of, because you cannot win when you win or whatever you do in football and soccer.
“But then you think guys that possibly, this is fine. This is fine. This fine. This is a completely next level. It’s really it’s really cool. It’s really well thought through. It’s so many opportunities. It’s easy to say we will not be successful in the future. This is not the reason.”
