Signing Kylian Mbappe would cause more problems at Liverpool FC than it would solve, according to people close to the club

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Kylian Mbappe would cause more problems than he’d solve at Liverpool FC.
That is the opinion of people close to the club, who say the player’s transfer fee and wage demands could disrupt an already harmonious squad.
As Liverpool has a number of goalscoring forwards already, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp may prefer to reinforce his midfield with James Maddison seen as a better, less costly, transfer option than Mbappe.
Wilfried Zaha, meanwhile, is seen as a good alternative to Mbappe.
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Signing Kylian Mbappe would cause more problems than it would solve for Liverpool FC, according to people close to the club.

Mbappe, 20, has lit up French soccer with Paris Saint-Germain. The speedster was headline news throughout the 2018-2019 season, scoring goals that were like works of art and shining even without Neymar in the team. He once even scored four goals in 13 minutes.

His dribbling ability, counter attack play, and all-round pace helped him return a strike rate of one goal scored or created for every 62 minutes he played, earning him the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award.

But when he collected the accolade at the ceremony in May, he made a statement that stunned the industry — he said he’d be willing to leave PSG.

Mbappe’s comments sparked a flurry of transfer stories, even linking the player with a high-profile move to Real Madrid. However, Liverpool has also emerged as a contender for the goalscorer’s signature.

The player told ESPN earlier in the month that if he was playing the FIFA video game, he’d play as Liverpool, adding that manager Jürgen Klopp Klopp "is good."

Around the same time, he started following Liverpool players on Instagram.

Despite resistance from the PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Mbappe continues to be linked with a move to Liverpool, the 2018-2019 Champions League winners.

But the club’s former goalkeeper Ray Clemence, who helped the team win three European Cups in the late 1970s and early 1980s, believes the transfer would cause more problems than it would solve as it could disrupt the harmony in Klopp’s squad.

"It’s one thing buying somebody of his quality with the sort of money PSG would want for him, and especially for the wages he would want as well," he told Business Insider at the London launch of "The Official Story of Liverpool’s 2018-2019 Season."

"But you have to be careful that if you start giving unbelievable wages to somebody who you know is a top quality player, that it won’t upset other people in the [team] who have done what they did last year, and are not on the same money."

Former winger Jimmy Carter, who represented Liverpool for a brief spell in 1991, told Business Insider that "Mbappe would love the opportunity to join Liverpool."

He said: "At PSG, things are not going quite going to plan. Neymar’s been injured a lot. He looks like he could be looking for a move back to FC Barcelona. But yeah, whether Liverpool would go for him [Mbappe] … personally with all that money, I’d be more inclined to go for James Maddison."

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While Mbappe would be a luxury — and an expensive purchase — Carter believes Leicester City’s creative midfielder Maddison would be a superior style fit for Klopp’s team, and a player who would also cost considerably less.

The soccer website transfermarkt.com has Mbappe valued at $205 million, while Maddison is seen as a less costly player at $41 million.

"[Maddison] would fit Liverpool’s style of play incredibly well," Carter told Business Insider. "He’d sit in that midfield. You’ve got Jordan Henderson who would be in front of the back four, doing the ugly part of the game, and he’d give Madisson the ball to let him go and create."

Maddison was one of Leicester’s most influential players last season, scoring seven times and assisting seven goals from 35 starts thanks to his pass variety and ability from set positions.

"His contribution last season in the Premier League was just incredible … I’d love to see James Maddison [at Liverpool]," Carter said.

Harry Harris, the author of "The Official Story of Liverpool’s 2018-2019 Season," said too many transfers this summer, or perhaps even one too many of the wrong kind of transfers, could wreak havoc on a squad that won a sixth European Cup.

"I think it’s going to be difficult for Klopp," Harris told Business Insider. "He must be sitting there thinking, ‘I don’t want to disrupt the squad too much.’"

Harris singled out the 26-year-old Crystal Palace attacking midfielder Wilfried Zaha as an ideal player Klopp should recruit.

He provided 10 goals and five assists for Palace in the Premier League last season, but it is his speed that would fit perfectly into Klopp’s set-up. It would also mean Liverpool would not have to surrender a "ridiculous" financial package to PSG for Mbappe.

"Whenever you think of Zaha, he’s got tremendous speed and he’d be a great asset to this Liverpool team … Mbappe is out of the price range. It’s the wages as well. It’s not the kind of player Liverpool are looking at. Right age, good speed. But the financial package is ridiculous."

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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Alan Dawson)