Mbappe and the unwritten rule that still won't keep Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool
Liverpool may be willing to break their wage structure to sign Kylian Mbappe, but even if they are successful in bringing in the Frenchman, Jurgen Klopp will not be staying at Anfield.
At the end of last month, Klopp announced his decision to leave his role as manager in the summer. The German has been in charge at Anfield for nine years, with the club being highly successful in the transfer market over that period.
One of the secrets to their success is the strict wage structure they operate with. The Reds tend to reward loyalty and hold back from breaking that structure in all but exceptional circumstances.
The last time they are thought to have done so is when star attacker Mohamed Salah signed a new contract. Now, there are suggestions they could do so again to bring in Mbappe, who is set to leave PSG at the end of the season.
The Frenchman has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid, with the La Liga giants long-term admirers of the attacker. But the deal is stalling over Mbappe's wage demands, which Madrid are reluctant to match.
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That has opened the door to a different suitor stealing a march on Los Blancos, with some suggesting Liverpool as an option after Klopp revealed his admiration of the star. He said: “We laugh about it. I can say that I think he is a really good player. But the financial framework conditions don’t suit us at all.”
That final line is the most telling of all and would put paid to any notion that Mbappe will be moving to Anfield. Even if Liverpool broke their unwritten rules around making a new player their highest earner, it would do little to convince Klopp to stay.
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Mbappe's long-awaited transfer to Real Madrid is stalling over wages (Getty Images)The German has been adamant that he will follow through on his decision to depart. He has also revealed that Liverpool's owners, the people who know him best, did not try to convince him to reverse course.
“It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again," he said.
“After the years we had together and after all the time we spent together and after all the things we went through together, the respect grew for you, the love grew for you and the least I owe you is the truth – and that is the truth.
“I told the club already in November. I have to explain a little bit that maybe the job I do people see from the outside, I’m on the touchline and in training sessions and stuff like this, but the majority of all the things happen around these kind of things.
"That means a season starts and you plan pretty much the next season already. When we sat there together talking about potential signings, the next summer camp and can we go wherever the thought came up, ‘I am not sure I am here then anymore’.
“For me, it was super, super, super-important that I can help to bring this team back onto the rails. It was all I was thinking about. When I realised pretty early that happened, then I could start thinking about myself again and that was the outcome. It is not what I want to [do], it is just what I think is 100 per cent right.”
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