Mbappe explains rejecting Liverpool transfer despite his mum urging him to sign

The Real Madrid star was just 18 years old when he met with Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool bosses in a private jet, with the parties holding talks as they circled around Nice in Southern France.

Mbappe was at Monaco at the time, and would ultimately spurn the Reds’ advances in order to sign for PSG - making the switch to Paris on an initial loan deal which included a mandatory £165.7m purchase option.

Yet the forward’s agent and mother, Fayza Lamari, had been desperate for him to sign for Liverpool instead.

“It was while I was playing in Monaco,” he recalled to the Athletic. “I had to take a decision. And yes, I was close to Liverpool.

“My mum was a big fan of Jurgen Klopp and the favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there.

“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. But yes, my mum was always saying, ‘Liverpool - you’re going to be there, playing at Anfield, it’s going to be insane for you.’ I was like, ‘OK!’

“She went there (for) the first step of the 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.’

"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.

“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.”

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Mbappe admits he was tempted to sign for Klopp and Liverpool. But ultimately, he could not resist the lure of his hometown club as he opened up on his reasoning for rejecting the Reds.

“I remember we were on the plane and we were turning around and around in the air while he (Klopp) was explaining his project.

“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.”