Ryan Giggs has revealed how Manchester United once turned down the chance to sign Kylian Mbappe.
Giggs was working on the coaching staff at United back in 2015 when a random stranger recommended his club take a look at Mbappe, who was at Monaco at the time. Giggs, appearing on 'Rio Ferdinand Presents: The Debrief', went to watch the striker in action before recommending United do the same.
Scouts' verdict
Which United's scouting team did - before deciding he wouldn't be good enough for them. Mbappe has gone on to become a footballing superstar, having won the World Cup with France before scoring a hat-trick in a second final.
Mbappe joined Paris Saint Germain in 2018 for £162m - the second most expensive signing in football history. He won the Golden Boot at this summer's World Cup, while becoming the all-time leading scorer in the tournament's history.
How it happened
Now Giggs has spoken about how Mbappe slipped through United's grasp - in what might just be one of the biggest mistakes the English giants have ever made.
Giggs said: "So, I’m in the south of France. I've been for a walk in the local village and I'm walking back to the hotel. And I can feel someone, you know, when you feel someone like following you. I get to the hotel and then all of a sudden I can feel someone coming up to me."
"This guy is called Lionel. 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 Manchester United."
Watching Mbappe
"A few weeks later, he emailed me all the details. So me and Albert, he was another assistant at United at the time, I've told him about this thing."
"We go to a few youth games with Monaco and we've seen him (Mbappe) and we were just like, 'wow, what is this?' You can see players and they can be special, but he did look exceptional, obviously."
"We told the (United) scouting team. 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?' He went, 'yeah, they weren't too sure about him, so we just left it'. And that was it."
Head to the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel at 9.00 UK time on Wednesday September 9 to watch the full interview.
