Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Reportedly Offer Monaco €100M For Kylian Mbappé

First of all, let’s all just have a seat and cool off. A lot has just happened to you in the last thirty seconds. You’ve seen a very large number positioned after a currency symbol along with a player’s name that sends your brain waves into ga-ga overdrive. It’s understandable that you’re an emotional wreck. Now, splash a bit of water on your face and let’s sort through these reports from Spanish paper Marca that Liverpool lodged a very audacious bid for Monaco’s goal-scoring, wonder-teen, Kylian Mbappé.

Did it even happen? Does it even matter if it did or not? The bid is said to have been rejected by Monaco. €100m is just not going to do it for them.

“Dmitri Rybolovlev, owner of the Ligue 1 team,” the story in Marca states, “doesn’t seem to have much intention of selling his striker and in any event has always maintained that the starting price will go beyond the €114m that Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba last summer.”

There’s also the significant tidbit of Mbappé preferring a move to Real Madrid if in fact he leaves Monaco at all this summer.

The young, French striker teamed up impressively with Radamel Falcao last season, scoring bucket loads of goals for Monaco, winning Ligue 1 by a comfortable margin. This kid is eighteen-years-old and by any measure he’s positioned to become a world-class player.

But is he likely to bring that world-classiness to Merseyside? That remains to be seen. Jürgen Klopp is said to be an admirer of the player but as far as I can tell any and every manager could be said to be an admirer of the player. Mbappé does great things on the pitch. But the money needed to interest Rybolovlev, and the convincing it would take to coax Mbappé to England instead of his preferred Spain, are significant stumbling blocks for doing this business.

Elsewhere, in The Times, Paul Joyce tossed a soggy blanket over the whole affair.

“There has been no official bid to Monaco,” said Joyce, “despite claims yeseterday in Marca.

“Liverpool have not commented but it is unlikely the Anfield hierarchy would have sanctioned a bid unless they were sure Mbappé wanted to move to Merseyside.”

This is good press for Liverpool regardless of how it shakes out. The club are making moves this summer and finding their way into tasty headlines. And the successful transfer of Mohamed Salah signals to other targets that Liverpool are getting serious about this football thing again.

The money is there. The ambition is there. It’s up to the folks in charge to sell the project, the history, the supporters and the very city itself. Alternatively, Mbappé, if you’re listening, there’s also Monopoly night.