Jurgen Klopp has joked that the only way Liverpool would sign Kylian Mbappe this summer is if the board go behind his back for the first time since he’s been at the club in order to ‘surprise’ him. Liverpool were one of the handful of clubs to hold talks with Mbappe when the youngster burst onto the scene with Monaco.
But the Reds were never able to compete financially with Paris Saint-Germain for his signature back then. Despite the money needed to make a deal happen, Liverpool have remained linked with the generational talent and speculation has risen once again this summer after Mbappe was left out of PSG’s squad for their pre-season tour in Japan.
The Ligue 1 outfit are said to be pushing for Mbappe’s sale this summer with Saudi Arabia side Al-Hilal launching a record-shattering bid worth in the region of £270million. Liverpool don’t have anywhere close to that kind of money to rival the Saudi club for an outright move and that’s without the eye-watering wages needed to make it happen.
But shock reports emerged over the weekend that Liverpool were holding talks with PSG to discuss a possible one-year loan deal for Mbappe to move to Anfield. However, Klopp appears to have once again ruled out a possible move for the French superstar.
While admitting Mbappe joining Liverpool makes a good “story”, Klopp laughed off any suggestion of the move becoming a reality. “We laugh about it,” Klopp told Sky Germany.
“I can say that I think he’s a really good player. But the financial conditions don’t suit us at all.
“I wouldn’t like to ruin the story now, but as far as I know, there’s nothing to it. But it’s possible that someone else from the club is preparing something and wants to surprise me, but that hasn’t happened in the eight years that I’ve been here. That would be the first time.”