Jurgen Klopp rejected the chance to become Manchester United manager before joining Liverpool - due to the club's focus on 'commercial influences'.
Klopp turned down two clubs, understood to be United and Real Madrid , after leaving Dortmund before becoming Liverpool manager four years ago.
He has transformed the Reds, leading them to back-to-back Champions League finals and a sixth European Cup last season.
They have won each of their eight Premier League games so far this season and already have an eight-point gap at the top of the table to nearest challengers Manchester City .
In his Mirror column, former Reds striker Robbie Fowler said: "I did an interview with him a couple of years ago and he told me he turned down a couple of super-rich clubs after Dortmund – one of them was definitely Manchester United , the other probably Real Madrid – because he hated how they were focused solely on commercial influences.
"He said he liked Liverpool because they had a balance between the money needed to reach the top and the history and identity of the club and their fans."
The interview Fowler references was conducted for the Mirror prior to last season's Champions League final win over Tottenham .
Klopp said: "I had talks with other clubs and they didn't sound like a football club. It sounded like marketing, image, you need to sign this, you need to sign that. And I thought 'wow, that's not the game I love'.
"It's all part of football, but it can not be the number one, two, three, four, priority. First of all please try to improve the game we play.
"And that's what I am good in. All the rest can happen but it's not so important for me."
