It wasn’t so long ago that for Liverpool to beat Real Madrid and Barcelona in the transfer market they would have had to pull at the heart strings of the player in question – winning him over with you’ll never walk alone against the greater financial might of the Spanish clubs.
Now roles are reversed. If Real Madrid want Kylian Mbappe to move to Spain ahead of Merseyside or Manchester they will have to sell him the idea of wearing Cristiano Ronaldo’s old number seven and lighting up the refurbished Santiago Bernabeu – money alone will no longer do the trick because the Premier League has the greater financial muscle.