Konate was a mainstay of Liverpool's Premier League title-winning 2024/25 squad but he will leave Anfield as free agent
Ibrahima Konate is set the leave Liverpool this summer
Ibrahima Konate is set the leave Liverpool this summer(Image: Paul Currie/Shutterstock)
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Ibrahima Konate will leave Liverpool at the end of his contract next month.
The defender, who joined from RB Leipzig in a £36m deal five years ago, outlined his intention to stay for the long term just moments after the 2-1 win against Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium last month.
However, after months of advanced talks between the player's representatives and the club, no agreement was reached, meaning Konate will walk away as a free agent at the end of June.
The development will be seen as a major blow to head coach Arne Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes ahead of a critically important summer transfer window.
Liverpool are set to sign Jeremy Jacquet on July 1 in a £60m deal from Rennes, having agreed the deal at the end of the January window. However, the young Frenchman was viewed as a supplement to a defensive department that contained Konate, alongside club captain Virgil van Dijk and Giovanni Leoni, who is on the comeback trail after an ACL injury on his debut back in September.
And the impending departure of Konate leaves Liverpool facing the prospect of scouring the centre-half market this summer in a period of player trading that already sees them needing to recruit for Mohamed Salah's successor.
It's understood talks opened with Konate's representatives as far back as November 2023, with Liverpool keen to reward the defender for his progress at Anfield.
However, after nearly three years without a resolution, Konate is now poised to end his five-year association with the Reds, despite what was a hugely encouraging update on his situation just last month.
Konate said on April 19: “For sure there is a big chance I’m here next season. This is what I always wanted. To be fair, there are many things people have said, but for a long time we have spoken with the club and we are [now] close to an agreement. I think everyone wished for that for as long as possible but we are in a good way."
Konate's deal, when he signed as a 22-year-old from Leipzig, had never been improved or extended and the gap between what was on offer and what the player's camp had been asking for is understood to have been too big, leaving the centre-back set to depart after five years.
The development must be considered a setback for Liverpool and their squad building plans for the summer months with 19-year-old Leoni fresh off a long-term injury and Jacquet, a new arrival, who doesn't turn 21 until mid-July alongside Van Dijk, who will be inside the final year of his contract when he turns 35 in July.
Konate will leave Liverpool having won the Premier League, the FA Cup and two League Cups during his time on Merseyside.
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