Kylian Mbappe has officially signed for Real Madrid following the expiry of his contract with Paris Saint-Germain, ending any more hopeful links with Liverpool.
Since his emergence at Monaco, Mbappe has been regularly touted with a move to Anfield – and in fact, Liverpool explored a deal for the Frenchman on a number of occasions.
It became increasingly clear, however, that he was never set for Merseyside, with his new club the only realistic suitor.
Mbappe has signed a five-year deal with Real Madrid, joining the European champions as part of arguably the most complete squad of any club in many, many years.
Though it is technically a free transfer, Mbappe is reported to have agreed a signing-on fee worth in the region of £85 million, while his projected salary is around £650,000 a week.
By comparison, Liverpool’s current highest earner is Mohamed Salah, on £350,000 per week.
Klopp was not involved in Fenway Sports Group’s talks with Mbappe on a private jet back in 2017, but the now-departed manager accepted the owners’ stance on any deal.
Speaking at ‘An Evening With Jurgen Klopp‘, the club’s send-off event at the M&S Bank Arena in May, Klopp admitted signing players like Mbappe was “not us.”
“Can anybody mention that the city of Liverpool and LFC would be the club with endless money?” he asked the 11,000 supporters in attendance.
“Spend what you want, Kylian Mbappe comes here, Bellingham comes here, Haaland comes here. That doesn’t fit, that’s not us. It is not us.
“That’s how it is. Honestly, I have no problem with that.
“People can judge me for the finals I have lost, no problem at all, and there are some out there that do that.
“Or they judge me for the finals we won, that’s fine as well. I couldn’t care less, to be honest.
“We won what we won and we tried as hard as we could. But we did it the Liverpool way, that’s how I see it.
“That means this city, where the city came from over the last decades, where the club came from maybe since the 90s where we didn’t win anything anymore for a while, it’s so impressive what we did together.
“And I mean together with our owners as well, because I know them, they’re good people.
“It’s not that they are not bothered about what we think, ‘you always ask for money’ and stuff like that.”
There will be some fans who remain disappointed with a perceived lack of ambition from FSG when it comes to the transfer market.
But Mbappe’s move sums up the situation for a club like Liverpool, fighting among the elite without the oil-funded, state-backed wealth that many of their closest rivals boast.
“We have owners who feel responsible for the club,” Klopp continued.
“Are they the best in the world? I don’t know the others, I cannot say that. But they work really hard as well so that we were successful.
“I felt supported. If other people say ‘if he could have got supported more, he could have won more’. I would have no clue.
“We did it as good as we could, and I’m fine with it.”
