Kylian Mbappe Reveals How Close Liverpool Came to a Transformative Transfer

There are transfers that happen, transfers that collapse, and then there are those that linger somewhere in between, preserved in football history as tantalising possibilities.

Kylian Mbappe to Liverpool belongs firmly in the final category.

Speaking in an extensive interview with The Athletic, Mbappe has revealed quite how seriously Liverpool pursued him in 2017, when the teenage forward was preparing to leave Monaco after announcing himself among European football’s elite.

What makes the story particularly compelling is that Liverpool apparently had a persuasive advocate inside the Mbappe household.

Liverpool Had a Powerful Ally

Mbappe recalled: “It was while I was playing in Monaco. I had to take a decision and yes, I was close to Liverpool. My mum was a big fan of Jurgen Klopp and the favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there.

“I didn’t listen because I wanted to play in my city, Paris. I didn’t want to leave my country before I was someone, but my mum was always saying, ‘Liverpool — you’re going to be there, playing at Anfield, it’s going to be insane for you.’ I was like, ‘OK!’

“She went there (for) the first step of the negotiations. She went to the city, the stadium, she met the people. She was like, ‘It’s a wonderful club, everybody’s 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 this stadium.”

It is an extraordinary glimpse into how close Liverpool came. This was not merely an enquiry placed through intermediaries. Mbappe’s mother visited Liverpool, experienced Anfield and met those involved with the club.

Klopp’s Liverpool Project Almost Landed Mbappe

Then there was Jürgen Klopp.

Liverpool’s pursuit involved a remarkably secretive meeting on a private jet, with Klopp later recalling how the aircraft flew around to prevent the negotiations being spotted.

Mbappe clearly admired what Klopp was building. Yet ultimately there was something Liverpool could not offer him.

Home.

“In the end, I took the decision to go to PSG because for me, born and raised in Paris, there was no better feeling than to show I could be a star in my hometown.”

That decision was entirely understandable. Mbappe subsequently scored 256 goals in 308 appearances for Paris Saint-Germain before eventually joining Real Madrid.

Salah Arrival Changed Liverpool’s Story

Liverpool, meanwhile, responded to that summer in a rather significant fashion of their own.

Mohamed Salah arrived from Roma, joining Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in an attack that became synonymous with Klopp’s greatest Liverpool side.

That is what makes this particular sliding doors moment so fascinating. Signing Mbappe might have transformed Liverpool, but Liverpool were already about to transform themselves.

Perhaps football history did not require correcting after all.

Our View – Anfield Index Analysis

From a Liverpool supporter’s perspective, this is one of those stories that becomes more fascinating with every new detail.

We already knew Liverpool admired Mbappe. What changes the complexion of the story is discovering how seriously his family considered Anfield and how committed his mother apparently was to the idea.

Imagine an 18-year-old Mbappe developing under Klopp alongside Mane, Firmino and, potentially, Salah. The sheer pace available to Liverpool would have been absurd.

Yet there is another side to this.

Liverpool’s success under Klopp was built around an attacking unit whose chemistry became almost impossible to separate. Salah scored the goals, Firmino connected everything and Mane supplied aggression, movement and quality from the left.

Would Mbappe have made Liverpool more talented individually? Almost certainly. Would everything else have unfolded exactly as it did? Nobody can know.

There is also something reassuring in Mbappe’s description of Liverpool. His mother travelled to Anfield, experienced the stadium and came away talking about a “family club” where “everybody’s so kind”.

That matters.

Klopp left Liverpool in 2024 and the club has since moved through Arne Slot’s title winning first season, his difficult second campaign and now into a new chapter under Andoni Iraola. Yet Liverpool’s ability to make an impression on the world’s finest players remains important.

Mbappe never became a Red.

For a while, though, it appears the possibility was considerably more real than many Liverpool supporters realised.