Ibrahima Konate next to the Liverpool and Real Madrid badges - copyright TEAMtalk
Ibrahima Konate has personally rejected the chance to leave Liverpool this summer, and a report has also provided updates on talks to extend his contract at Anfield and Real Madrid’s interest.
Konate’s future is the subject of fervent speculation at present after the French centre-back entered the final year of his contract at Anfield. That means the 26-year-old is now less than six months away from being able to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with overseas sides.
Liverpool are no stranger to losing some of their finest players either for free or nominal sums. Only Real Madrid’s desperation to field Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Club World Cup allowed Liverpool to collect a €10m fee.
Real Madrid are once again posing a problem for Arne Slot’s side, with their interest in Konate well documented.
However, according to a fresh update from the Daily Mirror, there’s a different club who’ve acted on their interest in the defender.
They revealed an as yet unnamed Saudi Arabian side ‘contacted Konate via his representatives’ to make it known they wanted to strike a deal.
If Konate had given the green light to a move, the Saudi side would reportedly have put a bid into Liverpool for the transfer of Konate THIS summer.
However, Konate is understood to have quickly rejected the approach and made it crystal clear he wants to continue playing at the highest level in Europe.
That is somewhat positive news for Liverpool, though it obviously does not discount Real Madrid.
Likeliest Konate outcome revealed
Furthermore, the Mirror went on to state that as of Tuesday, July 15, Liverpool are not close to ironing out a fresh contract with Konate.
The Reds do want to tie their regular starter down to new and improved terms. However, there is reportedly a ‘growing sense’ that Konate will reject any further offers put forward and is now ‘holding out’ for a free transfer to the Bernabeu one year from now.
The report read: ‘Liverpool would like to resolve Konate’s ongoing contract saga but there is a growing sense the 26-year-old may now be holding out for a move to Real Madrid and he’d be free to speak with Los Blancos from January 1.’
A prior report from the Guardian suggested Liverpool may be partly to blame for Konate being on a trajectory to Madrid.
When shedding light on Liverpool’s most recent contract offer to Konate, the outlet stated the Frenchman ‘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.’
In other words, Liverpool simply haven’t put big enough sums on the table to convince Konate to reject Real Madrid and re-sign at Anfield.
Liverpool are in the market for a new centre-back before the summer window closes, with Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace top of their shortlist.
However, Liverpool view Guehi as an upgrade on Jarell Quansah who joined Bayer Leverkusen and NOT as a replacement for Konate.
As such, and in the event Konate does leave Liverpool next summer, Liverpool may be forced into signing two new centre-backs over the next 12 months.
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