RB Leipzig tried to sign Mbappe, says ex-boss Rangnick

Ralf Rangnick has revealed that RB Leipzig attempted to sign Kylian Mbappe in 2015 and even held ‘two meetings’ over a move.

Kylian Mbappe is, without a doubt, one of the biggest young prospects around and destined for great things.

The 21-year-old is already a World Cup winner and rated as a top-three player by the likes of Louis Saha, who expects him to succeed Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the world’s best.

A further nine major pieces of silverware, including four Ligue 1 titles, and many records have also come in his young career.

But it could’ve been a very different story altogether had Mbappe joined Leipzig in 2015. Rangnick, who was the club’s manager at the time, revealed they tried to lure him to Germany while he was still part of AS Monaco’s youth set-up.

“We had Kylian on our radar when he was a youth player at AS Monaco,” Rangnick told Bild.

“In February 2015, there were even two meetings between us in Paris.”

Mbappe also had trials at Real Madrid and Chelsea in his youth.

But the striker and his father, Wilfried, ultimately decided against a move to Leipzig. He remained with Monaco instead and made his first-team debut in December 2015, surpassing Thierry Henry as the club’s youngest debutant aged 16 years and 347 days.

After a breakthrough campaign in 2016/17, Mbappe joined Paris Saint-Germain and helped the Parisians defeat Leipzig 3-0 in the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday.

He is now preparing for his first appearances in the competition’s final against Bayern Munich on Sunday.