If Kylian Mbappe left PSG this summer, Liverpool will be one of the teams eager to sign him.
With his announcement that he won’t be activating a one-year contract extension, Mbappe started a new controversy in Paris yesterday. There are now only 12 months left on his contract. PSG reportedly put him up for sale with no plans to let him go free in 2024.
And only genuinely two teams, according to the Spanish publication Marca, are open to him.
Real Madrid is first, of course. The signing of Mbappe by Los Blancos has long seemed inevitable. They made an offer of almost £146 million to sign him a year ago, and according to Marca, he would be less expensive now that he has one year left on his contract.
Liverpool is reportedly the other, though. In fact, if PSG follows through on their vow to put their star player available for sale, the Reds are thought to be a ‘major candidate’ to sign Mbappe. Again, here we go!
Mbappe begins a new saga.
It’s amazing how frequently Liverpool gets mentioned in connection with a Mbappe transfer. The Reds could have legitimately been a contender to sign a man dubbed “the best player in the world” at some point in the last few years, according to [CNN]. But as a Europa League team, they most definitely can’t now.
Due to financial constraints, Liverpool rejected a pricey agreement to recruit Jude Bellingham this summer. Wait until they learn Mbappe’s salary in Paris if they thought Jude was costly.
Therefore, it is clear that Liverpool would pass on Kylian for financial reasons. Having said that, there may also be football-related factors.
Bellingham would have been difficult to spend more than £100 million on, but at least it would have been justified. The 19-year-old is the best midfielder of his generation, and Liverpool is in desperate need of midfield reinforcements. Targeting him was based on sound reasoning. Mbappe can’t truly be claimed to be the same.
Yes, the Frenchman would likely be the club’s best attacker, but Liverpool already has elite options in the left-sided position he frequently targets.
Bringing in Mbappe would force Klopp to try to cram him into the team because it hasn’t been in the Reds’ transfer plans for them to sign him this summer.
There are players, of course, for whom you can make these concessions, and Mbappe is certainly one of them. There is too much smoke in this one without there being some sort of fire, and his mother is a well-known Liverpool supporter. But if it ever does, we’ll literally eat our words.