HUGE TRANSFER : Kylian Mbappe to Liverpool again? The latest contract demands, according eyes witnessed Psg star is seeking for a yearly wage of €35million (£30.5million) after tax and a signing bonus of roughly €100million (£87million).

Kylian Mbappe has been linked with a move away from PSG at the end of his deal this summer

The latest contract demands, according to Spanish media outlet AS, via SportWitness earlier this month, was that Mbappe is seeking for a yearly wage of €35million (£30.5million) after tax and a signing bonus of roughly €100million (£87million).

Liverpool, once more, have been linked with a move for French star Kylian Mbappe, with reports claiming the Reds are weighing up the potential financial implications of pulling off such a deal, given that Mbappe’s deal finishes at the end of this current season.

Over the past couple of years, whenever rumours of an Mbappe exit from PSG emerge you can almost guarantee that the Reds will be mentioned as potential suitors soon after, however fanciful such a transfer may be. But with the forward potentially on the market for free next summer, in terms of a transfer fee at least, and with potentially limited options in Europe outside of England given the lack of resource to pull off such a deal, the Premier League’s biggest clubs have been put on high alert, although the Saudi Pro League may well play a part in driving up the price.

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The links between the French star and the Reds are long established, from Mbappe’s admission that his mum’s favourite team is Liverpool to Reds boss Jurgen Klopp’s vocal admiration for the talents of the 24-year-old have seen Anfield mooted as a potential destination for some time now.

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Those rumours were seemingly put to bed in 2022 when Mbappe, who had been involved in a ridiculous game of cat and mouse with Real Madrid, committed his future to PSG. All it took was a €50m (£43.7m) annual salary, a signing on bonus of a reported €100m, total ownership of his image rights and the intervention of French president Emmanuel Macron. All very normal, right?

The latest contract demands, according to Spanish media outlet AS, via SportWitness earlier this month, was that Mbappe is seeking for a yearly wage of €35million (£30.5million) after tax and a signing bonus of roughly €100million (£87million).

Mbappe’s previous deal at PSG had been due to expire in the summer of 2022 and after a lengthy PR strategy from both sides had been expected to sign for Real Madrid. The Spanish side had offered as much as €200m for his services with just months remaining on his deal, an offer PSG flatly refused.

Much to the chagrin of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, a man keen to bring the era of the ‘Galactico’ back to the Spanish capital, Mbappe chose to remain in France.

But Mbappe and PSG were no longer in a happy marriage at the start of this season, with the forward frozen out during pre-season and his time at the club appearing to be at an end. However, the arrival of Enrique as boss and the move away from creating some kind of super side with Lionel Messi and Neymar Jnr, and instead focusing on acquiring younger talent with an eye for the future, has reportedly been welcomed by Mbappe, who could yet remain in France.

Previously, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, PSG chairman and chairman of the owners of the club, Qatar Sports Investments, demonstrated a willingness to play hardball with his club’s star player, vowing at the unveiling of Enrique as PSG boss that it would be “impossible” for him to leave on a free transfer at the end of next season.

With a number of major European clubs on the UEFA ‘watchlist’ when it comes to potential Financial Fair Play breaches, signing Mbappe is something completely off the table for some. Liverpool, with a large amount of headroom when it comes to FFP due to their more austere approach to transfer spend, are one of the clubs who, theoretically, could afford to extricate the Frenchman from the Parc des Princes. However, the theory and the reality are not the same.

The narrative around Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group among some sections of the Reds fan base has been that they are far tighter with the purse strings that the owners at rival clubs. Player trading has long been used to help offset transfer spend while wages, while they have grown significantly under FSG’s tenure, remain at around 60 to 65 per cent of revenue, well below the recommended UEFA limit of 70 per cent.

The Reds broke their transfer record with the signing of Darwin Nunez from Benfica in the summer of 2022, a deal that could rise to as much as £85m. In order to land a player like Mbappe the fee required was previously reported to be between £250m and £300m should he remain under contract. That is world record breaking stuff, the kind of sums that have so grotesquely distorted the transfer market and contributed to the enormous gulf that now exists between the biggest clubs and the rest.

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But if Mbappe does choose to test the market as a free agent then, while the transfer fee may not be a consideration, the kind of wages that would be required to land him would be. Mbappe is on , reportedly, wages of around £800,000 per week – more than double what Mohamed Salah’s last deal has been reported to be worth, which would take things into the farcical. How would sums like that be squared with existing members, those wanting to renew and new signings?

But we’ll carry on. Let’s assume that’s been agreed. We’re all there now. Oh, there is the not so insignificant matter of the fact that PSG, backed by the almost limitless wealth of Qatar Sports Investments, agreed to allow Mbappe 100% control over his image rights. Mbappe’s image rights issue reared its head last year with the French national side when he refused to endorse certain sponsors when on international duty.

The value of commercial deals for clubs like Liverpool is vast and part of that value is that companies get to use players on occasion for promotional activity. If Mbappe has the ability to simply refuse to endorse certain sponsorships then that then affects the potential value, especially if there is no value to be had in tapping into the most marketable player a team could have.

Mbappe’s positioning as a Nike client has been mentioned, as has his friendship and respect for basketball icon, fellow Nike client and part FSG owner LeBron James. Third party sponsorship to smooth deals over is now well within the sights of UEFA, and while a simpatico relationship may get the two sides in the room it won’t address the enormous financial elephant sitting in the corner of it.

Previously it had been the case that Liverpool’s transfer priorities didn’t really lie in the final third, they lay in midfield and defence. Those are likely to areas that will get addressed in the next two windows as well, despite the arrivals of a number of players like Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo. But with Salah having already attracted interest from Saudi side Al-Ittihad before the summer transfer window closed, should he be lured away at the end of this season for the riches of the SPL, would that provide Liverpool with the impetus to push the envelope and try and bring Mbappe to Anfield?

Liverpool are a club big enough to lure such a star, and they are also a club with the financial means to do so. The issue is whether it would risk busting the whole model, and whether the commercial benefits would still exist as they would like them to given the image rights agreement he has with PSG.

Liverpool have an interest in signing Mbappe because he is a phenomenal talent in the age range that fits into what the Reds look for. But, as ever, price will be a determining factor on whether or not they pursue, and after a season out of the Champions League there will be a financial impact, albeit hopefully a brief one given that the Reds look strong contenders for the top four this season.

It’s a nice idea, but for a plethora of reasons it is one that for so long hasn’t been rooted in reality, not in Liverpool’s reality anyway. But maybe, just maybe, the goal posts may have been shifted enough to move it from the bracket of ‘nonsense’ to those of ‘far fetched’ or ‘highly ambitious’. We shall see.