Kylian Mbappé's Near Move to Liverpool: A Fantasy Signing

Kylian Mbappé standing in front of the Kop. It sounds like a fantasy signing from a Football Manager save, but the French star admits it came close to becoming reality.

Before he became the face of Paris Saint-Germain and, later, the latest Galáctico at Real Madrid, Mbappé’s career stood at a crossroads. Fresh from exploding onto the scene at AS Monaco, the then-teenage prodigy weighed up his options. One of them was Liverpool.

And his family were firmly in the Anfield camp.

"My mum's favourite destination was Liverpool; she wanted me to go there," Mbappé told The Athletic. "There was a time, when I was at Monaco, when I had to make a decision and I was close to joining Liverpool."

This wasn’t a casual flirtation. Liverpool had Jürgen Klopp, and that mattered in the Mbappé household.

"My mum was a big fan of Jürgen Klopp, and he's an amazing manager. I met him and I have a wonderful relationship with him. I have great respect for him."

Klopp, already building a side that would go on to conquer Europe and the Premier League, made his pitch. Mbappé listened. The connection was real, the admiration mutual. For a moment, the idea of the French sensation in red didn’t feel so far-fetched.

Then the pull of home took over.

"I didn't listen to (my mum). I wanted to go to my city, Paris. I wanted to play in my own country. I didn't want to leave my country."

That decision redrew the map of European football. PSG paid €180m to bring him to the capital, a fee that underlined both his talent and their determination to keep France’s brightest star on home soil.

From there, Mbappé rewrote the record books. Across seven seasons in Paris, he became PSG's all-time leading scorer, hitting 256 goals in 308 matches and adding 110 assists. Ligue 1 titles, domestic cups, constant headlines – he carried the weight of a superclub and a nation on his shoulders.

Liverpool, meanwhile, marched on without him, winning the Champions League and ending their long wait for a league title under Klopp. The story worked for both sides.

Still, the thought lingers. Mbappé at Anfield, Klopp on the touchline, the Kop roaring him on. It never happened. But for a brief spell at Monaco, it very nearly did.