Kylian Mbappé's Near Move to Liverpool Revealed

Kylian Mbappé has revealed just how close Liverpool came to signing him as a teenager – and how his mother was desperate to see him in red at Anfield.

Speaking to The Athletic, the France captain described the summer of 2017 as a genuine crossroads in his career, when a private jet over the south of France briefly became the stage for one of football’s great “what if” moments.

Klopp, a private jet and a hard sell

Mbappé was still at Monaco, 18 years old and exploding onto the European stage, when Liverpool made their move. The club flew then-manager Jürgen Klopp to meet him on a private jet, with Mbappé’s mother and agent, Fayza Lamari, also on board.

“I had to take a decision. And yes, I was close to Liverpool,” Mbappé said. “My mum was a big fan of Jürgen Klopp and the favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there.”

Klopp tried to convince him that Anfield was the place to grow into a global star, with Lamari fully buying into the vision. Her enthusiasm, Mbappé admitted, was relentless.

“She 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!’”

A mother in love with Anfield

Lamari did more than just sit in on meetings. She went to Liverpool during the negotiations, wanting to feel the club up close.

“She was like, ‘It’s a wonderful club, everybody’s so kind, it’s a family club, a big club,’” Mbappé recalled.

“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. [I would say:] ‘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.”

Klopp himself later lifted the lid on that jet-set pitch, joking to German outlet Magenta TV earlier this year that the trip was “the most expensive non-transfer we ever made”.

Paris wins the tug-of-war

For all the charm, all the persuasion and all his mother’s lobbying, Liverpool still lost out. In the end, the pull of home proved stronger than the lure of Anfield.

“I didn’t listen because I wanted to play in my city, Paris,” Mbappé said. “I didn’t want to leave my country before I was someone. But yes, my mum was always saying Liverpool.”

He chose Paris Saint-Germain, initially on loan for the 2017-18 season before making the move permanent the following year. He stayed in Paris until his switch to Real Madrid in 2024, becoming the face of PSG and the French game along the way.

“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,” he said.

Liverpool’s private jet flew from Blackpool to Nice that day with Klopp’s hopes high and Lamari firmly on side. The club left with respect, a relationship, and a story – but not the player.

The rest of Mbappé’s career has made that missed deal look even more seismic.