Jurgen Klopp’s hopes of potentially signing Kylian Mbappe for Liverpool have taken a hit after Paris Saint-Germain sporting director, Leonardo, suggested that there’s a good reason why the Frenchman and club colleague, Neymar, will be staying put.
According to an interview Leonardo gave to France Football, and which has been cited by MARCA, it boils down to money with the Reds and any other interested parties potentially not having enough of it.
“Choosing between Neymar or Mbappe?” he said.
“It is true that the situation is very complicated, but if PSG do not have the means right now to be able to keep its two stars, which team has the capacity to pay the salary of either player?
“I don’t think any team.”
Whilst it’s true that genuine world class players aren’t going to come cheap, there’ll surely be ways and means of massaging the figures in order that a deal ‘works.’
That’s not to suggest that any underhand practices would be used, far from it in fact, but a bit of creative accounting never hurt anyone.
For all intents and purposes, Mbappe and Neymar have served their time in Paris. Done their apprenticeship.
However, their financial demands may well ultimately work against them if they’ve priced themselves out of a move to one of the other major European leagues.