The private jet was circling over the French Riviera, a luxurious five-cabin plane packed with the entire Mbappe family and Jurgen Klopp eating a delicious meal, forbidden from being seen. It was, as Klopp would later call it, “the most expensive non-transfer we’ve ever made.”
The former Liverpool manager has revealed the extraordinary lengths the club went to in a bid to sign a teenage Kylian Mbappe from Monaco a decade ago. Speaking on German station Magenta TV after covering France’s World Cup quarter-final win over Morocco, Klopp said the Reds flew from Blackpool to Nice, where the then-18-year-old and his family boarded a private jet. “Then we flew around in circles and had a delicious meal. We weren’t allowed to be seen. It was great – and then he went to Paris,” he said.
“Klopp: Liverpool flew Mbappe and his family on a private jet in failed €500m transfer bid.”
Mbappe’s mother, Fayza Lamari – herself a Liverpool fan and a consultant for professional footballers – was among those on board. Klopp, now 59 and widely expected to become Germany’s next head coach, said the club “really went all out.” But the meeting proved fruitless. Mbappe joined Paris Saint-Germain on loan in August 2017, with the deal becoming permanent the following year for €180m. He spent seven years in Paris, becoming the club’s record scorer, before moving to Real Madrid in 2024.
Klopp, who delivered a Champions League and Premier League title during nine years at Anfield before quitting in 2024, also revealed he had attempted to sign other French players without success. “It’s extremely tough for me right now; I’ve already negotiated with three of their players and never got them,” he said, referring to Mbappe, Aurelien Tchouameni and possibly Manu Kone. “We flew in a circle. It was fantastic. And then he went to Paris.”