Kylian Mbappé Reveals How Close He Was to Joining Liverpool

Kylian Mbappé has lifted the lid on just how close he came to wearing Liverpool red instead of Parisian blue – and how he ignored the one person who desperately wanted it to happen: his mother.

Back in 2016, Mbappé was an 18-year-old phenomenon at Monaco, tearing up Ligue 1 and lighting up Europe. Liverpool saw the future and went hard. Private jet. Family on board. A full charm offensive led by Jürgen Klopp. Anfield was waiting.

And yet, he chose Paris.

I was close to Liverpool

Speaking to The Athletic, the France and Real Madrid forward did not play down how serious Liverpool’s interest was.

“I was close to [joining] Liverpool. The favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there,” he said.

His mother, a “big fan” of Klopp, was all in on Merseyside. The club, the coach, the stadium – she could see it all for her son. Mbappé, though, had a different vision.

“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.”

The pull of home won. But not before Liverpool had thrown everything at the deal.

Anfield love story – from his mum

Mbappé revealed just how far his mother went in exploring the Liverpool option.

Mbappé, now 27, said she travelled to England as “the first step” of negotiations.

“She went to the city, 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’,” he said.

She didn’t stop at a quick tour. She went back to Anfield, alone, just to feel it.

“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.”

You can picture it: a mother in the stands, trying to see her son under the lights, in front of the Kop, imagining the noise when his name is sung.

Klopp’s private jet pitch

Years later, Klopp himself told his side of the story. Working as a pundit on Magenta TV during the 2026 World Cup, the former Liverpool manager detailed just how far the club went.

A flight from Blackpool to Nice. A private jet “with five rooms or something”. The entire Mbappé family on board.

“We really went all out. Then we flew around in a circle, talked with the family, ate good food,” Klopp said.

The idea was simple: keep it secret, keep it personal. No cameras, no leaks, no distractions.

“We flew in a circle. It was fantastic. And then he went to Paris,” Klopp added, summing up the whole saga with a shrug of inevitability.

For Liverpool, it was the one that got away. For Mbappé, it became a story he can now laugh about.

“It’s a funny story,” he said.

Paris over Anfield

Behind the humour sat a decision that shaped modern European football.

“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 hometown,” Mbappé explained.

He joined Paris St-Germain initially on loan from Monaco, in a deal that included an option to buy for 180m euros (£165.7m). The move became permanent, and the numbers that followed were historic.

Seven years in Paris. A record goal tally for the club. Ligue 1 titles, Champions League nights, the weight of a superclub on his shoulders.

Then, in 2024, the long-expected move to Real Madrid finally arrived.

Liverpool, meanwhile, can only wonder what Anfield would have looked like with Mbappé in full flight down the left, the Kop roaring behind him – and whether that private jet meeting was the closest they will ever come to finding out.