Klopp on a Liverpool transfer for Mbappe – ‘We laugh about it. Maybe someone will surprise me!’

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has laughed off suggestions his side will make a move for Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe’s PSG future remains unclear after the 24-year-old made it clear he did not want to extend his stay at the Ligue 1 champions beyond next summer, with the club previously saying they would not allow him to leave free in that case.

Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal have had a $330m (£257m) bid for Mbappe accepted, but it remains to be seen whether the Frenchman wants to accept a contract there.

Liverpool are among a host of elite clubs linked with a move for Mbappe but are not considering a move for him.

“We’re laughing about it,” Klopp said of a potential deal. “I can say that I think he is a really good player. But the economic framework conditions do not suit us at all.

“I don’t want to spoil the story, but as far as I know, there’s nothing in it. Maybe someone else from the club is preparing something and wants to surprise me!

“But that hasn’t happened yet in the eight years I’ve been here. That would be the first time.”

Liverpool have so far signed two players this summer, with Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szoboszlai joining from Brighton & Hove Albion and RB Leipzig respectively.

Follow the summer transfer window Athletics…

Mbappe’s future was thrown into doubt when he was left out of PSG’s pre-season tour and put up for sale in the latest escalation of his contract saga.

The France international’s current contract also includes a clause for the club to pay him a bonus on August 1, although the sum, which is £60m before tax, is unlikely to be paid in one go.

Mbappe has the option to extend his deal with PSG beyond 2024 for another year, but the deadline for him to do so (July 31) is today.

Al Hilal’s world record bid for Mbappe came last Monday, with PSG giving permission for the player to meet with them.

“We want him to stay but he can’t leave for free,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said earlier this month. “It was our verbal agreement, and he had expressed it publicly in an interview. So it is not up for discussion.

“I was really shocked to hear that he intended to leave for free. It’s very disappointing because Kylian is a great boy, a real gentleman and to leave for free weakens the biggest French club, that’s not him .When I received this information I was shocked and disappointed.

“That’s why he has to decide next week, or in two weeks at the most. And if he doesn’t want to sign a new contract, the door is open. That’s how it is for him and for everyone else. No one is bigger than the club, no player, not even me. It is very clear.

“In football standards, you never see your best player leave the club for free. It never happens.”

(Photo: Playmaker/MB Media/Getty Images)