How Kylian Mbappe salary demands compare to Mo Salah & Jurgen Klopp
Kylian Mbappe's eye-watering financial requirements have been reported, as the Liverpool-linked superstar's future remains the subject of much speculation.
The 25-year-old is now, famously, into the final months of his Paris Saint-Germain contract and, as such, can discuss terms with foreign suitors ahead of a summer deal should he wish.
While PSG have long remained hopeful of renewing their star attraction, recent reports suggest that the forward is close to a deal with Real Madrid — a club he has toyed with for years.
However, suggestions that Mbappe has already dotted the i's and crossed the t's on a contract at the Bernabeu may have jumped the gun, with subsequent reports claiming that player and club are have hit a 'stumbling block' on finances.
Meanwhile, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi has insisted there is, as yet, nothing to announce either way. The saga goes on...
That all leaves a chance (insert Jim Carrey meme here) for Liverpool to enter the race. The Reds are often the third club mentioned in talk about Mbappe's future, owing to a history of admiring glances and flirtatious comments in the press.
Mbappe's contract demands
With Jurgen Klopp leaving this summer, a move for the man who scored a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final would be some statement of intent from FSG... but also a highly unlikely one.
The operation to sign a player of Mbappe's calibre is a massive one and the Reds are clearly focussed elsewhere, with the immediate need to appoint a new sporting director and manager ahead of the summer.
Meanwhile, the finances involved in signing the former Monaco man for 'free' are, frankly, staggering.
According to Spanish outlet Cadena Ser, the three conditions of Mbappe's transfer are: a gross salary of €50m (£43m) a year and a signing bonus of €120m (£103m), as well as extra unspecified bonuses relating to his image rights.
In order to beat out competition from Real Madrid, Liverpool or whoever else, the report claims that PSG are prepared to offer €72m (£61.5m) a year, plus a bonus of €130m (£111m) — similar to the terms of the contract he signed back in 2022.
Kylian Mbappe & Mohamed Salah salaries compared
For some context, Liverpool's all-time highest earner is Mohamed Salah, who the club bent their notoriously strict wage structure for when renewing his deal back in 2022.
Last year, Salah's agent, Ramy Abbas, indicated to a Harvard Business School (HBS) study that his client earns "between €54m (£46.8m) and €62m (£53.7m)". However, these figures include Salah's third-party endorsement deals with the likes of Pepsi and Adidas.
In terms of basic club wages, the Egyptian is on a widely reported £350k a week deal, which amounts to north of £18m a year.
While that is an enormous amount of money, it is also less than a third of Mbappe's supposed current terms at PSG and less than half of what he is demanding of suitors this summer, which equates to £800k a week.
Meanwhile, most estimates put departing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp's salary at around £15m (€18m) per year, or £300k a week — meaning that even if both Salah and Klopp departed this summer it still wouldn't free up the budget to pay Mbappe.
After Salah and Klopp, most of the rest of the Reds' top earners are on contracts of between £100k and £200k per week.
Anfield Watch has reported that Liverpool would only explore the option to look at a deal for Mbappe in the event that Salah were to leave the club. However, the 31-year-old winger isn now leaning towards extending his contract on Merseyside once again, despite continued interest from Saudi Arabia.While Mbappe is undoubtedly one of the world's best footballers and biggest superstars, whose signing would (theoretically) interest any club, the reality is that a deal is simply not plausible.