Kylian Mbappé: I Was Extremely Close to a Liverpool Transfer

Kylian Mbappé has revealed just how close he came to joining Liverpool in the early stages of his career and how his mother "fell in love" with Anfield during several secret trips to learn more about the club. In an extensive interview with The Athletic, Mbappé confirmed he had a meeting with then-Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp aboard a private jet over Southern France in 2017, while playing for Monaco. The plane had departed from Blackpool, on England's northwest coast, before landing in Nice to meet Mbappé and his mother, Fayza Lamari, who also acts as his agent. Klopp then spent several hours in the air, attempting to persuade the teenage Mbappé to move to the Premier League instead of accepting a competing offer from Paris Saint-Germain.

"It was when I was playing for Monaco," Mbappé, then 18, recalled, at the beginning of a career that has established him as a leading goalscorer in World Cup history. "I had to make a decision. And yes, I was close to Liverpool. My mother was a big fan of Jürgen Klopp, and her favorite destination was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there," Mbappé began.

"I didn't listen to her because I wanted to play in my city, Paris. I didn't want to leave my country before I had become someone. But yes, my mother always said: 'Liverpool – you'll be there, you'll play at Anfield, it will be amazing for you.' I replied: 'Okay!' She went there for the first step of the negotiations. She went to the city, to the stadium, met the people. She said: 'This is a wonderful club, everyone is so kind, it's a family club, a big club.' She went to Anfield and fell in love with it. She watched a few games alone to feel the atmosphere, because she wanted to imagine me in that stadium. We talked all the time. 'What do you think, Mom?' She would answer: 'For me, you should go to Liverpool.' I said: 'Okay, okay, okay!' because Jürgen Klopp was an incredible manager. I met him and we had a great relationship. I had a lot of respect for him," the forward further revealed.

The Frenchman, now at Real Madrid, had dinner with the Liverpool manager during the flight, and the negotiations remained a closely guarded secret until Klopp revealed some of the details in an interview with German channel Magenta TV earlier this year.

This was, in Klopp's words, "the most expensive non-transfer we ever made," recalling how Mbappé instead opted to join PSG for the start of the 2017-18 season, initially on loan, which ultimately led to a £166 million transfer.

"We flew from Blackpool to Nice," explained Klopp, whose team lost to Madrid in the Champions League final that same season. "In Nice, the entire Mbappé family boarded a private jet with five cabins. Then we circled and had a delicious meal. We weren't supposed to be seen. It was great. And then he went to Paris."

Now 27, Mbappé has established himself as the leading goalscorer in the history of the French national team with 66 goals in 106 matches, and has also won the Golden Boot at the last two World Cups.

"I remember we were on the plane, circling in the air, while he was explaining his project," the Madrid number 10 told The Athletic, making a circular motion with his finger.

"I told him: 'You don't need to convince me. You are Jürgen Klopp, this is Liverpool, a great club, so, of course, since I'm here, I'm interested. But I also have other things, other projects, which are also good.' I told him: 'Whatever decision I make, it will be a good one, because we are talking about some of the biggest clubs in the world.' It's a funny story. But in the end, I made the decision to go to PSG, because for me, born and raised in Paris, there was no better feeling than to show that I could be a star in my hometown," Mbappé concluded.