Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed how the club laid on a private jet and hosted Mbappe’s family in an attempt to sign the France striker before he joined Paris St-Germain in 2017.
Speaking as a pundit at the World Cup, Klopp said Liverpool “went all out” to court the then-Monaco forward, now 27, describing the effort as the club’s “most expensive non-transfer.”
Klopp explained that a flight was taken from Blackpool to Nice, where “the entire Mbappe family boarded a private jet with five rooms or something.”
The German said they flew around in a circle to avoid being seen, holding talks with the family over food.
“We really went all out. Then we flew around in a circle, talked with the family, ate good food,” Klopp said pitchside. “It was fantastic. And then he went to Paris.”
Mbappe, represented by his mother, later joined PSG on loan in a deal worth 180m euros (£153m). He spent seven years in Paris, becoming the club’s record goalscorer before leaving for Real Madrid in 2024.
Klopp, 59, spent nine years at Liverpool, winning the Champions League and Premier League before stepping down in 2024. He is widely expected to be named the next head coach of the German national team.
