If Mbappé doesn’t sign a pre-contract agreement with Real Madrid in January it could be to Liverpool’s gain—but we wouldn’t bet on it.

Photo by Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images

Everyone needs a Plan B. A fallback option in case things fall through. An alternative you can live with if what you really want in the end doesn’t come to pass. That person you can marry if you both turn 73 and neither of you has yet found the one.

In the world of football, Liverpool rather appear to be that to Kylian Mbappé. The fallback for if he turns 73 and still hasn’t found his bliss with Real Madrid. The option that he can settle for, make do with, or otherwise just about live with. If he has to.

So we find ourselves once again on a Liverpool site talking about Mbappé. Knowing realistically it isn’t going to happen. But the story’s there. The story’s always there. So we have to acknowledge it. In case 2024 is when we all turn 73. Or something.

The latest chatter out of Spain, by way of Madrid-mouthpiece AS, has Madrid whispering promises in Mbappé’s ear about a firm contract offer arriving on January 1st when the French superstar is free to discuss his future with clubs outside Ligue 1.

Mbappé, it’s said, wants to decide his future quickly. Madrid, it’s said, want to decide on their future quickly. A date of January 15th, it’s said, is the deadline. At which point if a deal isn’t agreed, Madrid might move on. At which point, well, enter Liverpool.

Jürgen Klopp’s Reds are said to be the best positioned of the rest, and so if his Madrid move doesn’t happen by the 15th they could be the lucky Plan B. Or, as seems more likely, the deadline won’t be much of one and Madrid and Mbappé will keep talking.

Eventually, we fully expect Mbappé to end up at Madrid, and we’d honestly be surprised if Liverpool were still devoting much—if any—time to him. We also then look forward to him being linked with the Reds again any time he has a poor spell with Madrid.