For years, Kylian Mbappé was the most coveted player among Liverpool supporters – and, if credible reports are to be believed, even those within the club itself.

By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com

Liverpool’s interest in Mbappé dates back to his breakthrough at AS Monaco when, at 17, he broke a record Thierry Henry had held for 21 years in becoming their youngest-ever goalscorer in Ligue 1.

They were named along with Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain as early suitors even before the forward had penned professional terms, as he stood poised to explode as part of one of Europe’s most exciting young sides.

Monaco went on to win Ligue 1 in Mbappé’s first full season in the first team, a squad that also included Bernardo Silva, Thomas Lemar, Fabinho, João Moutinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko and captain Radamel Falcao, with Liverpool’s pursuit only heightening that summer.

He was widely reported to be an opportunistic target for the club around the time that they secured the £36.9 million signing of Mohamed Salah from AS Roma – it is even claimed that Liverpool owner John W. Henry spent two hours speaking with Mbappé and his family on his private jet in early 2017 as he attempted to convince the youngster to join.

That was the first of, it appears, a number of concerted efforts to tempt Mbappé to Anfield – a cause seemingly aided by his mother’s affinity to the club.

Of course, that never panned out, and with Mbappé now painted in the Spanish media as the rotten core in a fractured Real Madrid side, only months on from his high-profile move from PSG, Liverpool may consider themselves to have dodged a bullet.

It seems almost ludicrous to suggest that Liverpool would have been worse off had they signed one of the world’s most accomplished forwards – particularly at an age when he was still yet to cement himself at that level – but there is certainly cause to argue that would have been the case.

In an alternate reality, picture Mbappé had embraced those overtures from Fenway Sports Group and accepted a move to Merseyside in the summer of 2017.

An 18-year-old Mbappé would have joined a squad ready to take the next step under Jürgen Klopp, but he would have found himself competing with a trio attackers who would establish themselves as arguably the best forward line in Europe.

With Salah and Sadio Mané on the wings, working off the invaluable presence of Roberto Firmino as No. 9, Liverpool dominated the Premier League and Champions League, only held at bay by Manchester City and Real Madrid respectively.

Mbappé would have joined as a youngster, but his potential – and profile – would likely have forced Klopp to break that unit up earlier than he did, and likely at the expense of Mané’s world-leading brand of physicality and direct threat on the left.

Links continued in 2019, 2020, 2021 and even into 2022 – when it was claimed that, after an enquiry from Anfield, PSG quoted a price tag of €400 million.

Unsurprisingly, Klopp repeatedly dismissed speculation as, regardless of Liverpool’s interest – and that “from a sporting point of view, there were not a lot of reasons to not sign him” – they had “absolutely no chance” of affording the World Cup winner.

Though it has proved divisive among fans over the years, under FSG, Liverpool operate within a strict financial model, with the American owners insisting that the club remains self-sustaining.

When Mbappé signed his new contract with PSG in 2022, it boosted his wages to a reported £1 million per week – and even if he had opted to join the Reds when he was still a precocious teenager, his financial motivation would have followed that same trajectory.

At a stage now where Liverpool are mulling over new contracts for their three most high-profile players in Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold – with Salah still the highest-earner in their history on £350,000 a week – it is clear demands of around three times that would never wash.

Not only would Mbappé have disrupted the finely balanced status quo within the Mané-Firmino-Salah unit, his presence may have irrevocably damaged the wage structure that has proved so competitive under FSG.

It is pointed to note that, under FSG, Liverpool have never faced the financial struggles of a club like Barcelona, nor have they battled with a squad bloated by too many egos as has been the case at Manchester United.

While it may be beneficial to indulge one particular, record-breaking Egyptian ego, it would also certainly have proved fractious to add another, arguably even higher-profile one to that mix.

That is seemingly the situation unfolding at Real Madrid, who find themselves in crisis mode just months after a campaign that saw them win LaLiga and the Champions League, with there now question marks over Carlo Ancelotti‘s future.

It may be reductive to depict Mbappé as the cause of all of Real’s current issues, but there is a very real sense that his was a signing that worked more on a marketing level than it did on sporting terms.

Real are now battling for fluency with the Frenchman at the heart of their attack; no longer is Jude Bellingham as relentless in his central role, while Vinícius Jr. is less effective out wide.

Mbappé’s profile certainly ‘fits’ Real Madrid, in the same way it did Paris Saint-Germain, but whether it fits a setup that is not entirely built around him is another matter entirely.

While to speculate on his long-term output at Liverpool is, at this stage, moot, it remains valid to question where the club would be now had they been successful in bringing him to Merseyside from Monaco way back in 2017 – or even in the years since.

Liverpool may have enjoyed a similar level of success, or perhaps even more so, but there is a strong feeling that fans would have found the negatives outweighed the positives over time.

Under Klopp and now Arne Slot, Liverpool are doing it their own way, building on the values that gave the club its foundation over decades of success – skill backed up by hard work, team honours over individual accolades.

And in this reality, Mbappé would never have fit into that.

(Images from IMAGO)

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