Liverpool are not budging from their asking price for Ibrahima Konate despite Real Madrid having a different valuation, according to reports.
The Reds are having a busy summer with five incomings already sealed at Anfield as the Liverpool board backed Arne Slot after he won the Premier League in his first season at the club.
Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have arrived as the most high profile of their signings, while Freddie Woodman and Armin Pecsi have joined as new back-up goalkeepers.
And now rumours about players who could leave Anfield this summer are gaining momentum with Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Konate linked with transfers to other clubs.
Konate’s future has been a talking point in the last few weeks with another Trent Alexander-Arnold-style situation brewing as Real Madrid get ready to pounce.
The France international is in the final year of his contract at Liverpool and Real Madrid want to sign him this summer or for free in a year’s time.
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And now Spanish publication AS (via Sport Witness) claim that Real Madrid ‘aren’t willing to offer more than €20-25m’ for Konate this summer with Liverpool demanding €50m.
It is claimed that ‘all signs point to him being a lost cause’ with the Frenchman ready to leave Anfield but Liverpool ‘remain rigid’ in their demands and are ready to risk losing him for free next summer.
Liverpool are apparently keen to do what they did with Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk with the pair renewing a couple of months before their contract expired.
The Athletic‘s James Pearce insists Konate’s contract situation has gone “under the radar” after the France international got back to his best form last season.
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Pearce said in May on the Walk On podcast: “Yeah, he has been back to his brilliant best. He had a real wobble towards the end of the Jurgen Klopp era. Jarell Quansah was regularly starting games ahead of him. He had a real shocker in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park last April. It was weird to see because you thought, ‘How has he managed to lose his way to this extent?’.
“He has benefitted from this new era, the freshness, the attention to detail and Arne Slot’s tactical acumen and man-management. It has all helped to get him back to the level we knew he could reach.
“Andy [Jones] spoke before about the new regime being able to keep players fit for longer. Konate is a good example of that — he has suffered just one injury this season. He’s been brilliant.
“One thing that is probably going under the radar is his contract situation. There’s been so much focus on Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold but Konate is not far behind in urgency — come the summer, he’ll be down to his last year.
“He’s only 25, so his best years are still ahead. His contract needs to be addressed because it would be very difficult and very expensive to find someone as commanding and dominant in that back line as Konate has been for Liverpool this season.”