Kylian Mbappé has described how his mother “fell in love” with Anfield and was keen for him to sign for Liverpool before he ultimately decided to join Paris Saint-Germain when leaving Monaco in 2017.
The Merseyside club were serious suiters for Mbappé’s signature and the France star admitted he was “close to Liverpool,” with his mother attending matches at Anfield “to imagine me in this stadium.”
Former Liverpool head coach Jürgen Klopp has previously revealed the lengths the Premier League side went to in an attempt to sign Mbappé, citing talks on a private jet in the “most expensive non-transfer” the club were involved in.
Klopp, on punditry duty with Magenta TV during the World Cup explained how a Liverpool entourage flew from Blackpool to Nice to meet Mbappé whose family got on board the “private jet, with five rooms.”
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The now-Germany manager added: “Liverpool really pulled out all the stops,” he added. “We just flew in circles, talked with the family, and had a delicious meal. We weren’t allowed to be seen.
“We flew in circles — it was great — and then he went to Paris!”
Mbappé recalled in an interview with The Athletic: “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 Jürgen 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 yes, 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!’
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“She went there [for] the first step of the negotiations. She went to the city, she went to 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.
“All the time we were talking. ‘What do you think, Mum?’ She’d say, ‘For me, you have to go to Liverpool.’ I said, ‘OK, OK, OK!’ because Jürgen Klopp was an amazing manager. I met him and had a wonderful relationship with him. I had big respect for him.”‘
Mbappé was just 18 years old at the time, starring at Monaco, when Europe‘s top clubs battled to convince him their club was the right place for him to continue his meteoric rise.
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“I remember we were on the plane and we were turning around and around in the air while he was explaining his project,” Mbappé said.
“I said, ‘You don’t need to convince me. You’re Jürgen Klopp, it’s Liverpool, a great club, so of course if I’m here, I have some interest. But I have other things, other projects, that are also good.’
“I said to him, ‘Whatever decision I take is going to be a good decision because we are talking about some of the biggest clubs in the world.’
“It’s a funny story. But 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 home town.”
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Mbappé first revealed his talks with Liverpool back in 2022, but said he only seriously considered PSG and Real Madrid at the time.
After the discussions with Liverpool, Mbappé joined PSG on loan in a deal with an option for the move to become permanent for €180 million. He left to join Real Madrid in 2024.
Mbappé has also starred on the international stage, winning the World Cup as a teenager in 2018 and surpassing Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi as the tournament’s all-time top scorer as France reached the semifinal stage before being beaten by eventual champions, Spain.
