Jurgen Klopp reveals how Liverpool almost signed Kylian Mbappe prior to Real Madrid move | OneFootball

Kylian Mbappe’s move from Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid in the summer of 2024 was seven years in the making. He was heavily linked with the Bernabeu in 2017 before swapping AS Monaco for the French giants, and although he rejected the chance to move in 2022, he eventually joined Los Blancos two years later.

However, there was a chance that Mbappe would never have ended up at Real Madrid, despite them being his dream club. Before he sealed his move to PSG, he held talks with Premier League giants Liverpool, as confirmed by Jurgen Klopp (via Diario AS), who was party to the negotiations with the France international and his entourage.

“It was the most expensive non-signing I have ever made in my life. We flew in circles and ate deliciously. We couldn’t let (the media) see us. It was great, but he ended up going to Paris.”

Mbappe missed out on one Champions League

It’s well-documented that Mbappe has not yet won the Champions League in his career, and that former club PSG have won it in the two seasons since he left for Real Madrid. However, he would already have one in his locker had be gone to Liverpool in 2017, with the Merseyside club winning the competition two years later after defeating fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the final in Madrid.

It is interesting to wonder how different Mbappe’s career would have been if he selected Liverpool over PSG seven years ago. He may never have ended up at Real Madrid, although given that now-teammates Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate have moved from Anfield to the Bernabeu in the last 13 months, there is every chance that he would have eventually ended up in the Spanish capital – where he hopes to soon be joined by Michael Olise.