Hindsight is always 20/20, and knowing how much Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe is worth makes it harder to believe, but Bayern Munich was once interested in trying to sign the French phenom. He is currently valuated at 200 million euros via transfermarkt and it’s incredible to think that Real Madrid got him from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer after there was a great deal of back and forth between the two clubs due to his heavy desire to join the La Liga giants. He very nearly moved the summer
before he actually did, but had agreements in place with PSG that saw him stay for another season with contractual clauses as extreme as having a massive say in who the new manager would be.
Nonetheless, earlier in Mbappe’s career, there was a point at which Bayern was heavily interested in signing him when he was still with AS Monaco. He famously won the Ligue 1 title with them in the 2016/17 season before he ultimately wound up going to PSG, where he went on to win six French league titles as well as two Coupe de La Ligues and four Coupe de Frances.
In a press conference ahead of France’s World Cup qualifier against Iceland, Mbappe was asked whether or not any German clubs had ever tried to sign him during his career, replying to which he explained Bayern’s previous interest. “Many clubs approached me. Bayern approached me when I was a bit younger in Monaco. Dortmund also inquired, and RB Leipzig. And those are just the three clubs I remember. Maybe there were others, but I don’t remember. Everyone’s asking now, but it’s a bit too late,” he explained (via @iMiaSanMia).
Other than the Bundesliga clubs Mbappe rattled off, there’s probably a bevy of clubs across Europe that have probably been kicking themselves for not taking a chance on Mbappe when he was younger and less proven, and the same can be said for other top talents, as well. Bayern also notoriously passed up on a chance to sign Erling Haaland well before the summer where he ultimately wound up joining Manchester City. The return on investment has arguably been much higher for Mbappe for all of the clubs he’s played for, but after the 2016/17 Ligue 1 winning side with Monaco and the Champions League run that team had before losing all of their top talents put Mbappe right in the limelight and it wasn’t long before he wound up with PSG.
