Kylian Mbappe has long admired Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp
The chances of Liverpool winning the race to sign Kylian Mbappe this summer have once again been talked up, with reports in France outlining the huge admiration the superstar forward has for Jurgen Klopp and how long-established contact between the two men could yet play a crucial role in the transfer saga.
The 25-year-old has entered the final six months of his contract with PSG and speculation over where he might play next is beginning to swirl. Regarded as one of, if not the, best players in the world, demand for Mbappe is high. But then any club who manages to land on the World Cup winner will also be paying a premium price to boot.
To that end, Mbappe has been strongly linked with Real Madrid for a number of years, having trialled with them as a teenager and prior to his signing for Monaco as a talented 14-year-old back in 2013.
Indeed, Los Blancos interest in signing him has never faded and they saw a gigantic offer, worth around €200m in the summer of 2021, rejected by PSG. They also tried to negotiate a free-transfer move for him last year, before Mbappe decided instead to sign a 12-month extension.
As such, it was no surprise to see reports earlier this week state the player had agreed a pre-contract move to sign on at the Bernabeu; a claim that was very quickly denied by Mbappe’s entourage.
While Real remain very much in that transfer race, reports in the last few days appear to have dampened their chances of a deal, talking up instead the prospects of Mbappe moving to Liverpool.
Mbappe admiration and contact with Liverpool boss Klopp revealed
Those claims have gathered pace amid claims that owner John Henry has made it his personal mission to bring Mbappe to Anfield and has formulated a plan in which the star’s significant wage demands can be financed.
And with the American ‘leaving no stone unturned’ to try and convince Mbappe to sign, the report in Spain even suggested iconic Egyptian forward Mo Salah could be sold to help fund the player’s apparent £700,000 a week salary.
With endorsements and commercial deals further supplementing his wages, Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo claims Liverpool genuinely feel they have a chance – despite public denials from Klopp, who jokingly dismissed their chances of his signing over the summer – of pulling off not just the biggest signing of the year, but arguably the biggest in the club’s history.
Of course, saying it on paper and actually getting to the stage where Mbappe is on Merseyside parading himself in a Liverpool shirt are two entirely different realities; the sort of fantasy football signing that would be greeted with a huge level of sceptism until it actually comes off.
However, regardless of the financial hurdles Liverpool clearly face, L’Equipe has on Thursday taken the story on to new heights and have themselves talked up the possibilities of a move actually coming off.
They claim contact between Mbappe and Klopp goes back years and that the 25-year-old’s has enormous respect for the German, who has the ‘wow factor’. To that end, the Reds boss is very much seen as a coach that Mbappe would relish the opportunity of playing for.
Teasing a possible deal with Liverpool, L’Equipe writes: “The courtship that the Reds paid to the striker when he was still in Monaco has never been forgotten and neither have the discussions in the private plane of the English club’s shareholders flying over the Mediterranean. And if Carlo Ancelotti is a popular coach, Jurgen Klopp also knows how to do it.”
Real Madrid face up to Mbappe reality as Erling Haaland chase is ramped up
On the flip side, Klopp’s admiration for Mbappe is also very clear, and reports earlier this week said the Reds boss planned to give the forward the ‘Anfield throne’ in a bid to convince him to sign.
With reports in Spain adamant that Real Madrid’s hopes are on the decline, it’s now been claimed their president Florentino Perez is stepping up his quest to lure Erling Haaland to the club from Manchester City instead.
The free-scoring Norwegian has blasted in a ridiculous 71 goals in 75 games for City since a bargain €60m (£51.2m) move to the Etihad in summer 2022.
And with a clause in his deal reportedly allowing him to move on for a fee of nearer €100m (£86m), rather than the €200m (£172m) as previously reported, it’s claimed Perez now feels a deal for Haaland is more of a realistic target for the Spanish giants.
His former Borussia Dortumund teammate Jude Bellingham is also reportedly keen to play with his good friend again and renew their partnership at the Bernabeu.
And an approach be made to take the City favourite to Real, it will only strengthen claims that Mbappe could be on the move to Liverpool instead.
Since moving to PSG, Mbappe has scored an impressive 237 goals in 284 appearances for PSG – a strike every 1.19 games.
