A key Liverpool starter has rejected an offer to sign a new contract and the reasons why have emerged amid growing speculation Real Madrid will swoop.
Liverpool succumbed to the allure of Real Madrid when losing Trent Alexander-Arnold to the LaLiga giants. The Reds did capitalise on Real Madrid’s desperation to feature the right-back in the Club World Cup when securing a handy €10m transfer fee despite Alexander-Arnold being mere weeks away from free agency.
Nevertheless, losing a homegrown superstar in the prime of his career was a bitter pill to swallow for Liverpool and their fanbase.
Real Madrid very rarely fail to get their way in the transfer market and the man Alexander-Arnold played alongside at Anfield could be next to jet off to Spain.
Ibrahima Konate is a confirmed target at the Bernabeu and only has one year remaining on his Liverpool deal.
According to The Guardian, the French centre-back – who like Alexander-Arnold is in the prime of his career – has rejected an offer to extend his stay on Merseyside.
Explaining why, the report pointed the finger of blame at Liverpool and the numbers and structure of deal they put forward.
The Guardian stated the 26-year-old ‘is understood to be disappointed by the structure of Liverpool’s offer, with his representatives believed to be pushing for a higher basic wage after the offer was heavily based on meeting certain performance targets.’
Accordingly, Konate is now ‘stalling’ on putting pen to paper with Liverpool as fears he’ll follow Alexander-Arnold to Madrid intensify.
There is no suggestion Real Madrid will make a move this summer having already signed a centre-back in Dean Huijsen. Instead, they’ll attempt to land Konate next year without having to pay a transfer fee via free agency.
What about Marc Guehi?
Liverpool hope to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace in the current window and are understood to be closing in on an agreement on personal terms with the 24-year-old.
Palace hope to collect upwards of £45m, while Liverpool will hope to pay less given the centre-back only has 12 months left on his deal.
But with Nat Phillips heading to West Brom in a permanent switch and Jarell Quansah soon to become a Bayer Leverkusen player, Guehi is not viewed as the replacement for Konate either now or in the future.
Instead, Liverpool hope to enter next season with a four-strong centre-back corps consisting of Virgil van Dijk, Konate, Guehi and Joe Gomez.
If Liverpool were to lose Konate next summer, they’d need to dip into the market for centre-backs in successive years.
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