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Manchester United had an early opportunity to secure the signature of Kylian Mbappe long before he evolved into a global football icon, but the club’s scouting department chose not to pursue the deal, former assistant coach Ryan Giggs has disclosed.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by his former teammate Rio Ferdinand, Giggs explained that the Premier League side had been alerted to the French forward's exceptional potential when Mbappe was still an emerging 15-year-old in the youth ranks at AS Monaco.
The initial tip-off arrived unexpectedly in 2015, during a period when Giggs was serving as an assistant coach to Dutch manager Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford. While visiting southern France, the former Welsh winger experienced a chance encounter that could have altered the trajectory of modern European football.
According to Giggs, he was walking along a beach returning toward his hotel when a local French scout approached him. The individual introduced himself as an avid supporter of both Manchester United and Giggs, explaining that he regularly monitored the youth leagues across France.
The scout strongly urged Giggs to take note of a promising young talent emerging in the principality of Monaco, identifying the teenager as Kylian Mbappe and asserting that the youngster possessed all the attributes needed to succeed at Old Trafford.
Following their conversation on the beach, the scout requested Giggs’s email address to provide further information. A few weeks later, he followed up with a detailed message containing scouting observations and technical assessments regarding the teenage forward.
Intrigued by the recommendation, Giggs and fellow Manchester United assistant coach Albert Stuivenberg decided to review match footage of Mbappe performing for Monaco’s youth team. What they witnessed immediately captured their attention and convinced them of the player’s immense ceiling.
Giggs recalled being left in awe by the youngster's pace and technical brilliance, noting that both coaches were immediately struck by his rare gifts. Recognizing that Mbappe possessed world-class potential, the coaching staff moved to escalate the matter through the club's formal recruitment channels.
The two assistant coaches formally requested that Manchester United’s scouting department dispatch evaluators to assess Mbappe in person during competitive action. Consequently, a representative from the club’s European scouting staff traveled to the French capital to watch the forward feature in a fixture between Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain.
However, the scouting department’s assessment did not mirror the enthusiasm shared by the first-team coaching staff. When Giggs later checked in to inquire about the scout’s impressions in Paris, the response was surprisingly hesitant, with the evaluator expressing lingering doubts about the teenager's readiness and profile.
Faced with the scouting department's reluctance, Manchester United opted against opening formal transfer negotiations with Monaco. The decision ultimately closed the door on bringing the future world champion to the Premier League at the very beginning of his career.
The hesitation from United’s recruitment team was swiftly shown to be a major oversight. Within a year, Mbappe burst onto the senior stage during Monaco's sensational 2016-17 campaign, scoring 26 goals across 44 matches as a 16-year-old prodigy. His explosive performances helped propel Monaco to the Ligue 1 championship and an impressive run to the UEFA Champions League semifinals.
Following his breakout year in the principality, the forward secured a loan move to domestic rivals Paris Saint-Germain ahead of the 2017-18 season, which was later finalized as a permanent transfer in the 2018-19 season. Mbappe went on to establish himself as one of the most prolific goalscorers in the club's history, finding the net 256 times in 308 appearances while lifting six Ligue 1 titles in the capital.
Alongside his domestic dominance, Mbappe cemented his place among international football's all-time greats as captain of the French national team. He played a pivotal role in France's 2018 FIFA World Cup triumph in Russia and earned the tournament's Golden Boot award four years later in Qatar, where he scored a historic hat-trick in the 2022 final against Argentina, before later guiding France at the 2026 World Cup.
Now 27 years old, Mbappe continues to perform at the highest level after completing a marquee transfer to Spanish powerhouses Real Madrid in 2024. Having recently claimed the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Golden Boot award, the forward's illustrious career stands as a stark reminder of the monumental transfer opportunity Manchester United allowed to slip away.
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