Manchester United scouted Mbappe but didn’t sign him, says Ryan Giggs

What the report says

Former Manchester United player and coach Ryan Giggs has said the club had an early chance to sign Kylian Mbappe but did not follow through after scouting him as a teenager at Monaco. Al Jazeera reported that Giggs made the comments on a podcast with former teammate Rio Ferdinand, describing how a French scout contacted him in 2015 and urged United to watch the young forward.

According to Giggs, he and fellow assistant Albert Stuivenberg later watched Mbappe play and were impressed by his pace and ability. They then asked United’s scouting department to evaluate him, but the club did not move ahead with an approach to Monaco. Giggs said the feedback he received from a scout who saw Mbappe in Paris was not strong enough to push the deal further.

Mbappe, now a Real Madrid forward and France captain, went on to become one of world football’s leading scorers. Al Jazeera noted that he broke through at Monaco, then moved to Paris Saint-Germain before joining Real Madrid in 2024. He has since added major domestic and international honors, including a World Cup title with France and multiple scoring awards.

The episode is a reminder of how top clubs sometimes miss future stars at an early stage, especially when players are still developing in youth or reserve football. In this case, the report highlights a notable scouting miss for United, given Mbappe’s later rise into one of the sport’s most prominent players.