Kylian Mbappe watching QPR? Real Madrid star would’ve loved one Loftus Road transfer | OneFootball

One of football's current greatest strikers almost had family ties to QPR

If Kylian Mbappe ever went to watch football in London, expectations would be that he'd be in attendance at Arsenal, Chelsea, or any of the other big clubs in the capital.

But how about Queens Park Rangers?

Going into the 2024/25 campaign, QPR had battled bravely against relegation into League One the year before, winning five of their last eight games and securing their Championship status in the penultimate game of the campaign via a dominant 4-0 win against Leeds United.

Momentum was up, and in his first pre-season and summer transfer window with the club, Marti Cifuentes was looking for upgrades which would see his side finish a lot higher up the second-tier table, leaving the threat of relegation behind them.

In the end, money was splashed on the likes of Nicolas Madsen and Jonathan Varane, with players such as Kieran Morgan, Karamoko Dembele and Koki Saito also arriving in the summer.

But they weren't the only players linked with a switch to Loftus Road, as Paris Saint-Germain starlet Ethan Mbappe was also being looked at by QPR.

QPR were linked with a move for Kylian Mbappe's brother before Lille move

The big transfer story in the summer of 2024 was the imminent switch from Paris to Madrid for French superstar Kylian Mbappe, but his younger brother, Ethan, was also on the move from the Parisians at the end of his contract.

Ethan had come through the youth system at PSG while his older brother was starring week in, week out at the Parc des Princes.

Playing out wide, he was a constant goal threat for the U-19 squad and even made a handful of appearances in the 2023/24 Ligue 1 campaign, making his senior debut days before his 17th birthday and becoming the eighth-youngest debutant for the French giants at the time.

But, the end of that campaign saw him on the move, and numerous top European sides were in for him, as the 2006-born star had plenty of potential, and if he turned out to be anything like his older brother, they'd have a real gem on their hands.

Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Lille were all looking to bring him in, but also on the shortlist of clubs interested were QPR. In the end, he decided not to test himself in the Championship and remained in France, signing for Lille.

While no one can really hold it against Mbappe for wanting to remain in his native country and play for a club that, outside PSG, is one of the biggest still in the country, it would truly have been something to see him lining up at Loftus Road, with older brother Kylian watching on from the stands now and then.

Ethan Mbappe would have been a cheat code in the Championship

Mbappe started to break into the Lille squad last season, but in his second year, he's taken that to the next level, with the 19-year-old starting more regularly in between periods out with injury and scoring goals in Ligue 1.

If he's starting to show promise as a teenager in the top-flight in France, imagine what he could have done for the Hoops in the Championship?

QPR have a lot to look forward to with the likes of Kwame Poku, Richard Kone and Rumarn Burrell in their frontline, but that's due to performances in the English third tier, while Mbappe's hype comes from the pedigree and the potential to be a real superstar.

You'd expect that the talented teenager would have hit the ground running in the Championship and contributed plenty of goals and assists. In the end, it doesn't seem that long until he's doing that in the top leagues in Europe.

It was always going to be an ambitious move, and seeing the Championship outfit battling with the likes of Dortmund and Ajax for a signing will never not look strange, but their presence in the links will always make them second-tier, and QPR fans wonder 'what if...?'