'My mum fell in love!' - Kylian Mbappe reveals how close he came to Liverpool transfer after secret Jurgen Klopp meeting

Mbappe has opened up about just how close he came to joining Liverpool back in 2017. The French forward was a highly sought-after teenager starring for Monaco at the time, drawing serious interest from Europe's biggest clubs as they battled for his signature.

Merseyside quickly emerged as a favoured destination for his family during the negotiation process. Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp even arranged a highly secretive meeting on a luxurious five-room private jet to pitch his sporting project to the young attacker.

Despite the Premier League club pulling out all the stops to secure the marquee signing, the transfer never materialised. Mbappe eventually secured a blockbuster move to PSG, leaving Liverpool's hierarchy to wonder what might have been.

The strongest push for a move to the Premier League actually came from Mbappe's mother. She travelled to Merseyside for the crucial initial steps of the negotiations, exploring the city and attending matches alone to soak up the famous Anfield atmosphere.

"She went to the stadium, she met the people," Mbappe recalled, as quoted by The Athletic. "She was like, 'It's a wonderful club, everybody's so kind, it's a family club, a big club.' She went to Anfield and fell in love with it.

"All the time we were talking. 'What do you think, Mum?' She'd say, 'For me, you have to go to Liverpool.' I said, 'OK, OK, OK!' because Jurgen Klopp was an amazing manager. I met him and had a wonderful relationship with him. I had big respect for him."

Klopp himself previously described the elaborate and costly lengths Liverpool went to during those secretive negotiations. Mbappe remembered the bizarre airborne pitch fondly.

"I remember we were on the plane and we were turning around and around in the air while he was explaining his project," Mbappe admitted. "I said, 'You don't need to convince me. You're Jurgen Klopp, it's Liverpool, a great club, so of course if I'm here, I have some interest. But I have other things, other projects, that are also good'.

"I said to him, 'Whatever decision I take is going to be a good decision because we are talking about some of the biggest clubs in the world.' It's a funny story. 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 home town."

After turning down Liverpool's advances, Mbappe initially joined PSG on loan. The move was later made permanent for a staggering €180 million, setting the stage for a dominant, trophy-laden spell in the French capital.

The dynamic forward also cemented his legacy on the international stage, famously winning the World Cup as a teenager in 2018. He continued to shine for his country in 2026 edition, surpassing Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi as the tournament's all-time top scorer before France were knocked out by eventual champions Spain at the semifinal stage.

Now older and established as a global icon, Mbappe finally left his homeland to begin a new chapter. He completed his long-awaited switch to Real Madrid in 2024.