Image rights dispute could see Liverpool poach €25m/season target Klopp has a “direct line” to

An image rights dispute could see Liverpool poach Kylian Mbappe from Real Madrid, according to Independent chief football writer, Miguel Delaney.

Signing the Frenchman would be the icing on the cake of a season that has well and truly defied expectations.

Before the season started, Manchester City and Chelsea were tipped to outperform Liverpool. Even Manchester United were expected to shine in the wake of signing Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Of course, very few that were in touch with what Liverpool were hard at work to achieve shared that view but it's astonishing how few pundits predicted the Reds to shine.

Those predictions came in the wake of a 2019/20 season that saw the Reds lose every centre back at the club to injury at some point and a third-place finish in the Premier League was subsequently celebrated as a huge success.

In fact, it's exactly a year to the day that Alisson Becker scored a miracle goal to make qualifying for the Champions League possible and given all that has been achieved so far this season, with a trip to Paris penned in, Jurgen Klopp has to be commended for the way things have panned out this season.

Fast forward to May 2022 and Liverpool have already won two trophies and could make it three with a Champions League triumph over Real Madrid.

There's the slim possibility that they could also lift the Premier League for the second time under Jurgen Klopp with Steven Gerrard incredibly poised to rewrite history and help his boyhood club win the one title that eluded him as a player - this time as manager for Aston Villa.

Manchester City host the Villains at the Etihad on the final day of the season and should they fail to win and Liverpool win their final two games against Southampton and Wolves, the Reds will defy the odds and lift the trophy at Anfield.

Amidst travel plans and tactical meetings, Liverpool are also hard at work to ensure the summer's recruitment also provides Jurgen Klopp with the tools required to make the 2022/23 season a huge success.

He claims that an "image rights issue is keeping Mbappe away from Madrid" amid speculation of a late and dramatic attempt from Liverpool to poach the 23-year-old.

A previous report claimed that Jurgen Klopp has a direct line to Mbappe.

That's enough to make a move to Liverpool impossible unless he decides joining Klopp at Anfield is a more enticing offer which doesn't seem very likely.

The German has been trying to sign Mbappe since 2017 when he made the switch from AS Monaco to PSG and it would be something of a fairytale if the charismatic Liverpool boss finally got his man.

If so, the Reds could leave Paris with more than just a Champions League trophy which would be a hammer blow to Real Madrid in more ways than one.