Amid concerns that Ibrahima Konate could yet leave the club when his contract expires next summer, Liverpool have now reportedly made fresh contact in the race to sign his potential replacement.
Liverpool's Konate concern
After Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk put pen to paper at the same time as Trent Alexander-Arnold opted out of signing a new deal, some around Anfield may have been glad to just bring an end to an ongoing contract saga. As it happens, however, Liverpool aren't far off from having the exact same concern with Konate.
As things stand, the Frenchman will leave the club as a free agent this time next year and rumours have already circled regarding Real Madrid's interest. After already losing Alexander-Arnold on a free deal to the Spanish giants, the last thing that Michael Edwards and FSG will want is to see Konate go down the same route. And that could leave them with a decision to make sooner rather than later.
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Liverpool would consider signing a centre-back this summer.
The defender, himself, has recently had his say on his future, telling reporters: “I know I have a lot of objectives with this club: to become a leader, to win everything. I am very happy here to be fair.
“This is another conversation with the club and my agent, we will see what will happen in the next few weeks or I don’t know when but we will see, let me say that. Progressing? Not really – but my agent met the club last week but I don’t know what will happen. I cannot say what my agent said to me but yeah we will see what will happen."
Whilst the hope will be that he puts pen to paper and follows Van Dijk and Salah by securing his future at the club, Liverpool have already reportedly been planning for his potential departure.
According to Rudy Galetti of TeamTalk, Liverpool have now made contact in the race to sign Castello Lukeba from RB Leipzig. The impressive defender could yet complete the same move that Konate made not so long ago by swapping the German club for Anfield, and given that he could be replacing his countryman the deal would certainly make sense.
castello-lukeba
That said, Castello wouldn't come cheap. Reports have even suggested that the Frenchman has a release clause worth as much as €90m (£75m) at Leipzig. Arne Slot is reportedly a fan of the defender, however, and that could certainly go a long way to making a deal happen in the near future.
Praised for an "amazing" debut season at Leipzig by U23 scout Antonio Mango, it may not be too long before Lukeba is making another debut elsewhere. As Liverpool's Konate doubt rumbles on, he's certainly someone to watch.