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Paul Merson claims Liverpool’s complete “trust” in Ibrahima Konate is likely to be the main reason behind the club’s decision not to go “all in” on recruiting Marc Guehi during the January transfer window.
Writing in his column for Sportskeeda, Merson praised Konate’s recent return to form:
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“Ibrahima Konate and Mohamed Salah starting to look like their old selves has helped Liverpool.”
“You don’t play for Liverpool if you’re not a good defender, so Konate must have the trust of everyone at the club. Otherwise, Liverpool would have gone all in for Guehi.”
Guehi’s demands proved too high
While some journalists have denied the claims, several trusted sources have confirmed that Manchester City are paying the defender upwards of £250,000 a week.
That salary would have made Guehi the fourth-highest earner behind Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alexander Isak. That is not a wage the Reds would have agreed to pay, even though he was on the market for only £20m.
Will Konate stay at Liverpool?
At the moment, the prospects don’t look good. The Frenchman is now within the final six months of his contract, and there are no signs of a breakthrough in talks. If you want to buy a classic Liverpool kit with Konate’s name on the back, visit Cultkits.com
It is believed that communication lines between Konate and the club have remained open, but as things stand, the centre-back will leave Anfield on a free transfer this summer. As we saw with Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah last year, though, there is always some hope that a last-minute agreement will be reached, but there are no guarantees that will happen this time.
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