Hindsight is always a beautiful thing in football but it is also a way to escape from reality and analyze ‘what-could-have-been’ situations.
One such situation that Liverpool fans could think of is what if Kylian Mbappe had joined them in 2022.
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As per French outlet L’Equipe, this transfer could have actually happened in the summer two years back. The World Cup winner, feeling betrayed by PSG’s project explicitly asked to leave the club despite having just signed a contract extension.
Liverpool were interested in signing the current Real Madrid superstar and verbally agreed a club record deal worth £168.7million after Mbappe accepted the transfer.
PSG would have also preferred to send him to Anfield rather than the Bernabeu but that did not happen as the the other side of the story mentioned by the renowned media outlet is that the Reds did not come up with a written proposal.
The then manager, Jurgen Klopp, was a huge admirer of one of the best footballers in the world and wanted to make a concrete effort to sign him. Just imagine how things could have been for Liverpool had they signed Mbappe.
Should Liverpool have signed Mbappe?
On a sporting level, the Frenchman would have had a transformative effect on Liverpool. However, when you dive deeper, underlying issues start to emerge. Most importantly, Klopp would not have been able to deploy his pressing structure.
Mbappe is not the best presser in the world and prefers to conserve his energy and wreak havoc by running at opposition defences. Liverpool would have had to change the way they play football to get the best out of the 25-year-old.
Signing Mbappe would have also ripped apart the wage structure that Liverpool have been preserving for quite some time now.
He currently earns around £1,173,885 per week at Real Madrid and the Reds cannot even imagine paying such wages to one player.
All things considered, Liverpool are better off for this transfer not happening in 2022. Mbappe has now settled in at Real Madrid and looks set to stay here for a long time.
As for the Merseysiders, they are starting a new project under Arne Slot and the direction that we are taking will be beneficial in the long run.
