Taking place after Kylian Mbappe’s future at Paris Saint-Germain appeared resolved last summer, Liverpool were quoted a ridiculous fee upon enquiry.
Mbappe has been a long-standing, albeit informal, target for Liverpool since his initial breakthrough at AS Monaco, though a move to Anfield has rarely been seen as realistic.
That has not stopped the club from attempting to gauge the Frenchman’s interest in joining on a number of occasions – including last summer, when he looked close to leaving PSG.
Speaking to the Telegraph in May, after pulling a U-turn on Real Madrid and agreeing a new contract that earns him around £1 million a week, Mbappe even revealed he held talks with Jurgen Klopp.
The figures involved in Mbappe’s deal with PSG should be enough to explain why he never made the switch to Merseyside.
"Sorry, 400?"@MarioCortegana says Liverpool made an approach for Kylian Mbappe last summer – and were quoted €400m by PSG…
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— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) January 19, 2023
But now, The Athletic‘s Mario Cortegana has revealed the price tag PSG set for their No. 7 when again contacted by Liverpool after the 24-year-old put pen to paper.
In July, Mbappe had “expressed discomfort to management about the direction in which PSG were heading,” with demands for “a squad good enough to seriously compete for a Champions League title.”
That led PSG to decide to “open the door for him to leave but not to Real Madrid.”
It was then, Cortegana claims, that Liverpool made another enquiry, only to be told by president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and transfer consultant Antero Henrique that any deal would cost €400 million.
That’s no typo: €400 million, or around £350 million.
Of course that is, frankly, an exorbitant fee for any one player, regardless of the generational ability of a talent like Mbappe.
Liverpool broke their transfer record to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica a month before they asked over Mbappe’s availability, committing up to £85 million.
Mbappe can clearly be considered off the table for Liverpool, unless an entirely unrealistic scenario develops in which he sets his heart on joining his mother’s favourite club on a free transfer and accepts a pay cut in the region of 70 percent.
Instead, it seems like it is Real Madrid or bust.
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