I was close to joining Liverpool in 2016 - Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe has revealed how “close” he came to joining Liverpool in 2016, saying he went against the advice of his mother who “fell in love” with Anfield.

The France and Real Madrid striker said the Reds tried to sign him at 18, while he was playing for Monaco in Ligue 1.

Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said the club laid on a private jet and food for Mbappe and his family in an attempt to sign him, before he eventually joined Paris St-Germain.

Speaking to the Athletic, Mbappe said his mum was a “big fan” of Klopp and wanted her son to move to Merseyside.

“I was close to [joining] Liverpool. The favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there,” he said.

“I didn’t listen because I wanted to play in my city, Paris. I didn’t want to leave my country before I was someone.

“But yes, my mum was always saying, ‘Liverpool - you’re going to be there, playing at Anfield, it’s going to be insane for you’.”

Mbappe, now 27, said his mother went out to Liverpool for the “first step” of the negotiation.

“She went to the city, the stadium, she met the people. She was like, ‘it’s a wonderful club, everybody’s so kind, it’s a family club, a big club’,” said Mbappe.

“She went to Anfield and fell in love with it. She watched a few games alone, to feel the atmosphere, because she wanted to imagine me in this stadium.”

Klopp, who spoke about the possible move on Magenta TV as a pundit at the 2026 World Cup, explained how a flight was taken from Blackpool to Nice in France, where “the entire Mbappe family boarded a private jet with five rooms or something”.

“We really went all out. Then we flew around in a circle, talked with the family, ate good food,” Klopp said.

He said they had not wanted to be seen having talks - but the meeting proved fruitless.

“We flew in a circle. It was fantastic. And then he went to Paris,” Klopp added.

“It’s a funny story,” said Mbappe.

“But in the end, I took the decision to go to PSG because for me, born and raised in Paris, there was no better feeling than to show I could be a star in my hometown.”

Mbappe later joined PSG on loan, in a deal including an option for the move to become permanent for 180m euros (£165.7m). He went on to spend seven years in Paris, becoming the club’s record scorer before leaving for Real Madrid in 2024.

La Liga chief dismisses Real's ref conspiracy claims

La Liga president Javier Tebas says claiming there is a refereeing conspiracy against Real Madrid is like “living in another galaxy”.

Real manager Jose Mourinho accused officials of making key errors after his side were beaten 2-1 by rivals Atletico Madrid last week.

Mourinho brought printouts of screenshots to the post-match news conference, claiming Atletico should have been given two red cards in the first half.

Writing in response to an article in the Spanish media which claimed there is a “conspiracy” against Real, Tebas dismissed the allegations.

“Claiming that referees are directed against Real Madrid is living in another galaxy,” Tebas said on social media.

“That narrative serves as an excuse to cover up other shortcomings that are plain to see in these first matches of the season.

“It’s more comfortable to point to a conspiracy than to explain what’s happening on the pitch.”

Real said in a statement that it was “intolerable” for Tebas to use his position to keep attacking the club and that his comments were “particularly serious and incomprehensible”.

“It is utterly surprising that the president of La Liga dedicates his time and personal platforms to constantly trying to publicly discredit Real Madrid,” said the club.

“By doing so, he continues to damage the image of our competition and Spanish football worldwide.”

Real said that given Tebas’ “inappropriate behavior” professional football in the country needs a “leader capable of managing it and developing its full potential” as well as having a “fundamental duty of neutrality”.

“The president of La Liga is not the owner of the competition but a manager serving the clubs that comprise it and entrust him with its direction,” added the statement.

“The clubs need someone who serves this mission with honesty.”

Real are fourth in La Liga, six points behind Barcelona who top the table on 21 points after winning all seven of their league games this season.

After defeat by Atletico, where Real went down to 10 men in a feisty encounter after defender Dean Huijsen was sent off, Mourinho blamed the officiating.

“We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho said as he showed media the printed images.

“Those were two clear red cards. Given the difficulties we faced afterwards playing 11 against 10, we can only imagine what 50 minutes of 11 against nine would have been like.”

Tebas has been critical of Real and its president Florentino Perez in previous years after disagreeing with their plans to join a European Super League in 2021.

In 2025 he said Real had “lost their head” after the club sent a formal letter of complaint to the Spanish FA about officiating in the league.

Atletico hit back at Mourinho over referee complaints

Atletico Madrid have hit back at Jose Mourinho after the Real Madrid boss arrived at his post-Madrid derby news conference on Sunday carrying printouts of screenshots displaying two incidents he believed should have resulted in red cards for Atletico.

Mourinho accused the officials of making key errors after Real were beaten 2-1 by Atletico, claiming the hosts should have been handed two red cards in the first half.

On Monday, Atletico posted twice on their X account, the first being a video showing a sheet of paper coming out of a printer with the words #StopAcosoArbitralYA, meaning “stop referee harassment now”.

A second post showed a picture of Mourinho at the news conference with the same message.

The response from Atletico received two million views on X within two hours of it being posted.

Diego Simeone’s team often use their social media accounts to respond to their rivals, repeatedly posting on X this summer to ridicule Barcelona over their pursuit of Atletico’s talisman Julian Alvarez.

Alongside Mourinho’s post-match claims, the match report published on Real’s website said that the derby loss was decided because of “dreadful refereeing” of Ortiz Arias.

It was Real’s second defeat of the season, having lost 1-0 to Real Betis earlier in September.

“We can skip the press conference because the story of the match is right here,” Mourinho said as he showed media the printed images on sheets of A4 paper on Sunday.

“Those were two clear red cards. Given the difficulties we faced afterwards playing 11 against 10, we can only imagine what 50 minutes of 11 against nine would have been like.

“So I’ll just have to limit myself to hugging my players, who gave it their all and played a first half, showed great class and character, setting us up perfectly to win the second half.”

Simeone, when asked to respond to Mourinho’s refereeing rant, said he was always respectful of everyone else’s opinions.

“I understand that we’re in a privileged position with a lot of public scrutiny, as coaches, and whether it’s Mourinho, [Barcelona manager Hansi] Flick, [Real Betis boss Manuel] Pellegrini, me, or anyone else, we need to be careful about what we say,” he said.

“We have to know how to respect others, the referees, our colleagues. And when someone crosses that line of respect, it’s not right - you can’t cross that line.”

Was Neville right to call out Man Utd for a 'lack of effort'?

Gary Neville started for Sky Sports as a pundit and co-commentator in 2011

“I’ve watched Manchester United since the age of five and that’s the worst 15 minutes I’ve ever seen. Absolutely pathetic.”

Gary Neville did not hold back in his criticism of Manchester United’s performance during Sky Sports’ coverage of Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Fulham.

The players had just laboured through the opening stages of the second half, culminating in a Lisandro Martinez own goal gifting the home side the lead.

“I’ve never seen such a lack of effort,” Neville added. “What must Michael Carrick be thinking?”

Neville played 602 games for United over a 19-year career, winning everything the club game had to offer. So his criticism comes from a qualified position.

This season’s out-of-possession stats would appear to back it up too, with the Red Devils ranking 16th for distance covered, and 17th for total number of sprints.

But does that tell the whole story?

United’s dismal running and sprinting stats made for stark reading in the wake of Neville’s criticism.

After all, the former right-back had directly questioned a lack of effort, and referred to the players as “mannequins”.

He said United - and Fulham - were walking too much during the game.

In the Premier League this season only four teams have covered less distance than the Red Devils, and just three teams have produced fewer sprints.

It comes alongside United’s joint-worst start to a Premier League season, with four points from five games.

So is this down to the running and the effort?

Let’s take a look at the second half of last season, after Carrick had been appointed as manager.

Between 17 January and the end of the season, United picked up more points than any other team - 39 points from 17 games.

Yet only four teams ran less than United, and only two clubs had fewer sprints.

There is no material difference in the running stats, but United were returning 2.29 points per game compared to the 0.8 this season.

Something is clearly different, but it does not appear to be linked to this particular stat because barely anything has changed - apart from the results. Maybe this United squad simply does not have runners.

Then there is the comparison to rival teams.

Manchester City have won all five Premier League matches but have covered less distance than United. Enzo Maresca’s squad have also recorded the lowest number of sprints in the division.

Brighton, one of the most exciting teams in the league this season and the top goalscorers, are one place above United for sprints.

Maybe United’s problem is tactical rather than a simple case of not running enough?

Neville setting the media agenda when it comes to United is not a new thing.

The former England international has called out the team’s shortcomings on many occasions.

Look back to December 2021, and a poor first-half performance against a struggling Newcastle side when Ralf Rangnick’s side trailed 1-0 at the break.

“They’re a bunch of whinge-bags,” Neville said at half-time on Sky Sports. “I’ll not go into names but they’re whinging at each other, arms up in the air complaining about everything. There’s no pressing, no urgency, the basics of the game.”

Edinson Cavani rescued a point at St James’ Park, but Neville’s comments had already made the headlines.

You only need to look at how the post-match coverage went after the Fulham draw.

Neville’s remarks were put to Carrick at full-time. The United manager said fitness levels of his players were not an issue.

But the die was cast.

“Neville: That was the worst ever”, read the back page of Monday’s Daily Telegraph.

“15 minutes of shame”, was the lead for the sports section of the Daily Star.

“United boss keeps calm after Neville Ful blast,” said the Daily Express.

It was picked up across online media, and discussed at length on radio talk shows.

When Neville criticises his former club, it carries weight.

In January, with Ruben Amorim under pressure for poor results, the Portuguese head coach said that “if people cannot handle the Gary Nevilles and the criticisms of everything, we need to change the club”.

Amorim was dismissed the following day.

There always seems to be a strong influence in the media related to the dominant team of a previous era.

For example, throughout the 1990s and 2000s, former Liverpool stars such as Alan Hansen, Mark Lawrenson and Phil Thompson dominated a lot of the conversation.

It stands to reason that now members of the all-conquering United squad will have a leading role in the media.

But for Neville, it is bigger than anyone apart from Gary Lineker and his Goalhanger production company.

“When does Sky wonder if they are paying a lot of money in wages to train their next competitor?” It is a question posed by Richard Gillis, who hosts the Unofficial Partner sports business podcast.

While Neville started out in the media as a pundit with Sky Sports, the 51-year-old is now one of the biggest players in a rapidly changing industry.

After co-founding the sports entertainment production company Buzz16 in 2016, Neville launched YouTube platform The Overlap in 2021.

The Overlap produces Stick to Football - one of the UK’s most popular football content channels with 2.2 billion views across all platforms in 2025.

Earlier this year it entered into a strategic partnership with radio giants Global, with the aim to create a multi-format sports media network.

Neville this summer exited Buzz16, focusing his attention on The Overlap, which has branched out into cricket and rugby, and secured live Bundesliga rights.

The YouTube channels of United influencer Mark Goldbridge were recently acquired, a further sign of the influence Neville now wields in football’s media industry.

Goldbridge made his name with expletive-laden rants during streamed ‘watchalongs’ of United matches, and his channels have about four million subscribers.

Gillis points out that Neville was attracted to the Goldbridge brand, and his United Stand podcast, because it creates noise when there is no football.

“Noise is valuable,” Gillis told BBC Sport. “Man Utd generate more of it than any other club in the Premier League. Anger creates engagement. And from the Sky commentary box, Neville is well placed to create anger.”

In a bid to ramp up its content, The Overlap is believed to have targeted national newspaper journalists to come on board and cover United.

“It poses questions,” Gillis says of this development. “Currently, Neville is the story. He says something, the media reports it, the fans respond to it. A valuable loop. At what point does The Overlap and the United Stand become the rivals of the media? What is the United Stand now? A noise merchant, or a news organisation?”

To many, it probably does not matter whether Neville’s comments about United’s running are valid or not.

They create headlines, column inches and legitimate talking points under the Sky Sports name.

Yet Neville is himself a media mogul who also works within another organisation.

And at present, when measured by media coverage and impact, all parties are winners.

Mourinho and Simeone renew rivalry in Madrid derby after more than a decade

The last Madrid derby between Mourinho and Simeone came in the 2013 Copa del Rey final, when Atletico beat Real 2-1 after extra time

When Atletico Madrid welcome Real Madrid to Metropolitano Stadium on Sunday, Jose Mourinho and Diego Simeone will renew a rivalry not seen for more than a decade.

The two managers have not faced each other since 2014, when Mourinho was manager of Chelsea and Atleti knocked the English side out of the Champions League at Stamford Bridge.

But this will not be their first Madrid derby as rival managers.

That came two years before the Champions League encounter, when Simeone’s Atletico welcomed Mourinho to their former home, the Vicente Calderon Stadium, during the Portuguese’s first reign as Real boss - he left with a 4-1 win that day.

“This is a derby,” Mourinho said. “Derbies are always something more special because of the history, the culture of the games and the passion of the fans.”

But, ever the pragmatist, he added: “But obviously three points is most important thing.”

Mourinho has three wins and a draw in their six previous meetings, while Atleti’s 2013 Copa del Rey triumph ended a 14-year wait for a derby victory.

Real Madrid go into the match second in La Liga with 15 points from six games, with Real Betis on the same number of points and Atletico fourth on 13.

Leading the table are Barcelona on 21 points, meaning defeat for Mourinho’s men would leave them six points behind after the first seven matches.

Atleti have themselves responded to consecutive defeats by Athletic Club and Liverpool with back-to-back victories, beating Real Sociedad 3-0 and then Osasuna 4-0.

Real Madrid also come into the derby on the back of a success, edging past Elche 3-2.

Mourinho has spent much of the build-up resisting comparisons with Atleti and Barcelona, despite the contrasting narratives surrounding the clubs.

Hansi Flick’s Barca side have made a perfect start with eight wins in all competitions - seven in the league - while Real have had to produce defining moments in several matches.

Their last league outing against Elche reflected this. Real led 2-0 before being brought back to 2-2, only for substitute Carlos Espi to score a 91st-minute winner.

“It’s not normal to be winning 2-0 then the other team is able to equalise,” Mourinho said, while pointing to the character shown by his players in finding late winners.

“The league is a marathon and it’s not always a straight line. There will be obstacles, but we will be there to overcome them.”

That ability to manage matches is one of the main questions surrounding Real as Mourinho acknowledged they have not yet reached the level of control he wants, despite positive results.

“I am aware of the fact we can improve, we have to improve, but I also see a lot of very positive collective and individual things and in the three games where we needed last-minute winners, we found them,” he added.

The derby carries particular significance because of Real’s recent difficulties at the Metropolitano, where they have won only two of their past 11 away matches, with the last in La Liga four years ago.

Atleti also won the corresponding derby last season 5-2 - a result that represented an early setback for Real’s previous project under Xabi Alonso.

This time, though, there is a different manager on the touchline.

Mourinho’s return this summer has brought a familiar emphasis on organisation and adaptability, but he insisted his tactical approach is dictated by the players available to him rather than a fixed philosophy.

“I’ve evolved alongside my players,” he said. “You have what you like and don’t like as a manager but then you have to work with the group of players you have.”

Simeone’s assessment of Real’s biggest weapon was clear.

“They’re better in transition than us,” said the Argentine, who has managed Atleti in over 800 games since taking charge in 2011.

He believes Real’s ability to turn winning the ball into instant attacking opportunities will be one of the key tactical elements in the game.

“When there’s a loss of possession, they look for [Kylian] Mbappe and Vinicius Jr, they play to that strength,” added Simeone.

“We have to read the game well and not allow any turnovers, so we don’t allow them to use those transitions.”

It is a warning that carries weight given the attacking options and speed available to Mourinho.

France striker Mbappe remains the focal point, while Vinicius Jr provides another route into space.

Real also have the quality to change the game from the bench, something the 21-year-old Espi has already demonstrated since his summer arrival from Levante.

Aware of the feisty and hostile encounters of old, Simeone has urged his players not to become overwhelmed by the occasion.

“I’m not one for giving advice,” he said when asked how his players should approach the fixture.

“It’s normal for new players to feel pressure, with the excitement a game like this generates, but they need to be calm. Football is about composure.”

Simeone, though, described Atleti as a team still “in construction” after a busy summer in which seven players left and five arrived.

One of the biggest selection issues concerning him involves compatriot Julian Alvarez, who has missed the past two games with a muscle problem.

Forward Alexander Sorloth is also injured, while new signing, Canadian Jonathan David, has scored in each of his last two appearances.

However, Simeone confirmed Alvarez will feature at some point, giving his side more strength in attack and threat in transition.

While both he and Mourinho will plot the downfall of the other’s team, there is respect between the pair after their past.

“I have huge respect for Mourinho, I’ve been an admirer of his for a long time,” said Simeone. “He knows the regard I have for him. Hopefully we can compete as we have done when we’ve faced him.”

Mourinho revealed he had been asked to discuss Simeone for a documentary and had no hesitation in speaking positively about him.

Having been in charge for 100 days, he refused to give himself a positive or negative assessment.

“All I can say is that I’ve given it my all,” he said. “I gave 100%. We have to keep on doing that every day.”