Jürgen Klopp's Regret Over Kylian Mbappe: A Footballing What-If

On a cool evening in Foxborough, the cameras followed Kylian Mbappe. The real story, though, sat a few metres away on the touchline.

Jürgen Klopp, now dressed for television rather than the technical area, watched France’s stars warm up with the look of a man reliving a sliding-doors moment. When the final whistle confirmed France’s quarter-final win over Morocco, he shared a brief reunion with Mbappe, then lifted an arm in recognition towards the striker’s mother in the stands. It was warm, genuine – and tinged with what might have been.

Because Klopp has history with this France side. Painful history. He has tried, and failed, to bring three of them to Anfield: Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Adrien Rabiot. No near misses, no second chances. Just three big swings that never landed.

"It's extremely tough for me right now," he admitted. "I've already negotiated with three of their players and never got them."

The one that still stings most is Mbappe. Klopp did not just make a pitch; he mounted a covert operation.

Back in 2017, when Mbappe was still Monaco’s electric prodigy and the entire continent was circling, Liverpool went undercover. The club charted a private jet from Blackpool to Nice, away from the usual football routes, to keep the meeting invisible to the media and the market.

"With Mbappe, it was before he went to Paris," Klopp recalled. "That was roughly €500 million, the most expensive non-transfer we've ever made.

"We flew from Blackpool to Nice. In Nice, the whole Mbappe family boarded a private jet with five cabins. 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."

The detail is classic Klopp: self-deprecating, vivid, and just a touch exasperated. Liverpool had rolled out a luxury pitch in the sky, complete with privacy, comfort and charm. Mbappe listened, smiled, and ultimately chose Paris Saint-Germain in a €180 million move.

Liverpool were left with their “most expensive non-transfer”. Mbappe, for all the glamour and goals in Paris, walked into a dressing room loaded with ego and expectation. Internal rivalries with Lionel Messi and Neymar coloured his time at PSG, a club built to win the Champions League but too often consumed by its own weight.

Now 27, Mbappe has reset his career at Real Madrid, the club that has defined the modern era of European football. He is still chasing that first Champions League title, a remarkable footnote for a player of his dominance. In this reimagined timeline, PSG have gone on to lift the trophy twice in the two years since his departure, underlining the brutal irony of elite football timing.

Klopp, meanwhile, has stepped off the Liverpool rollercoaster. After deciding to end his tenure at Anfield in 2024, he has embraced a different vantage point, working as a MagentaTV expert and offering the kind of candid insight that made him box-office on the touchline.

The pause is only temporary. At 59, he stands on the brink of another heavyweight job, poised to replace Julian Nagelsmann as Germany national team coach once the major tournament in the United States comes to a close. From Dortmund to Liverpool to the national side: another colossal chapter is waiting.

On the pitch in Foxborough, Mbappe has no time for nostalgia. His goal against Morocco has carried Les Bleus into the semi-finals, and his focus is locked on leading France towards another major title. The handshake with Klopp, the wave to his mother, the memory of that jet circling above the French coast – all of it lives in the background now.

But for a few minutes on that touchline, as Klopp watched the player he once tried so hard to sign, the past and present overlapped. One man preparing to take charge of a nation. The other trying to carry one. And between them, a private flight that never quite reached Anfield.