Manchester United passed on the chance to sign Kylian Mbappe, reveals Ryan Giggs

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Manchester United had an opportunity to acquire Kylian Mbappe during his early years at Monaco, but ultimately elected not to pursue the future French international, according to former winger Ryan Giggs.

Giggs, United’s all-time appearance leader, disclosed that the club was alerted to Mbappe’s potential in 2015 while serving as an assistant manager under Louis van Gaal. Appearing on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Giggs recounted a chance encounter in southern France with an individual who urged him to monitor the teenage forward.

“So, I’m in the south of France. I was coaching United, so it’d be 2015. I’ve been for a walk in the local village and I’m walking back to the hotel. I’m walking on the beach back to the hotel. And you can feel, I can feel someone, you know, when you feel someone like following you,” Ryan Giggs said.

“And I’m like, I get to the hotel and then all of a sudden I can feel someone coming up to me. Anyway, this guy is called Lionel, a French guy. So he comes up to me and says ‘hi, I’m Lionel. I just wanted to just say hello. I’m a big United fan and big fan of yours. But I watch a lot of youth football in France, and you have to look at this player. He’s called Kylian Mbappé. He’s at Monaco, and I think he’s a player for Man United.” Giggs added.

United scouting team opted against signing Kylian Mbappe

Following up on the recommendation, Giggs shared the details with fellow assistant coach Albert Stuivenberg. The pair reviewed footage of Monaco’s youth fixtures and quickly recognised the forward’s extraordinary talent.

“A few weeks later, he emailed me all the details. So me and Albert [Stuivenberg] again, who’s the coach with Arsenal, he was another assistant at United at the time. We used to in the afternoons just go and watch games or go and watch players at the training ground. So anyway, I’ve told him about this thing. He says ‘come on, let’s get him up.’ And we got a few youth games with Monaco and we seen him and just like, ‘wow, what is this?’ You know, you can see players and they can be special, but he did look exceptional, obviously,” said Giggs.

United sent a scout to evaluate Kylian Mbappe during a fixture against Paris Saint-Germain, but the club ultimately decided against pursuing a deal.

“They went to watch him. Someone in France went to watch him and he was actually playing PSG. Monaco were playing PSG. So they went to Paris to watch him. Anyway, I think a few weeks later, I said to this guy ‘how did it go?’ and he went ‘yeah, they weren’t too sure about him, so we just left it, and that was it.'” he concluded.

(With inputs from ANI)

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