Written by James Cranford – @jamescranford89
Liverpool got back to winning ways in the Champions League on Wednesday night. A clinical second-half display saw them trouncing Rangers 7-1 at Ibrox. Mo Salah scored the fastest ever hattrick in the competition, reminding the world of his place amongst the European elite.
Another man firmly in that bracket is PSG’s Kylian Mbappé. The French star has been linked with a move to Anfield by the likes of Marca and Le Parisien, with reports he feels ‘betrayed’ by the club following a summer transfer saga with Real Madrid.
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked goal.com’s Neil Jones for his take on the situation.
Neil said:
“Of course it will be true. I don’t think that sort of story comes out in Le Parisien, RMC, Marca, everyone on the same briefing or speaking to the same sources. There is a little element of ‘what does he want?’ Is it just a simple case of actually, ‘I should have left, I wish I had left, I missed my chance.’ Possibly.
Liverpool-wise, it’s really hard to see Liverpool getting anything together to get Kylian Mbappé. Jürgen spoke about it at the start of the summer. I think he said the figures were just not possible. Mbappé gave an interview to the Telegraph where he said he spoke to Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool and I think he does have a respect and an appreciation for them, but I don’t know if that respect will lend itself to halving his wage demands or coming for less than what his market value is. I still think it’s probably likely that he ends up at Real Madrid. Maybe that impacts Liverpool’s Bellingham pursuit if Mbappé is back on the table for Real Madrid? Maybe that is decent news for Liverpool. I’d be surprised if Real Madrid sign both of those two and I would be very upset if they did!
Stranger things have happened. £300 million was the price tag alone. Liverpool’s transfer record is £75 million. You’re looking at a significant uptick in that. I don’t see it, but I’d like to see it!”
Redmen Reacts
Mbappé 2023 anybody?! Whilst we would all love to see the 23-year-old strut his stuff at Liverpool, the numbers involved would require a complete overhaul in thinking from FSG. Their highest-paid baseball star is Xander Bogaerts, who is earning $20 million per year and is not in the top 40 best-paid players in Major League Baseball. Mo Salah will probably be on a similar figure having signed a new contract in the summer. The New York Times reported Mbappé’s current salary to be over a million pounds a week, dwarfing the contracts held by FSG’s biggest stars. Lionel Messi was paid a similar amount by Barcelona which has led to their recent and continuing financial strife. It seems only a club backed by a nation-state (or Real Madrid!) would be able to afford to bring the French superstar in.
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