'Inaccurate' - Ibrahima Konate Liverpool contract update after star 'gives his word' to Real Madrid
Liverpool have a couple of senior players’ contracts to sort out and there has been an update on the future of Ibrahima Konate.
This season isn’t quite as precarious for Richard Hughes in terms of the Liverpool players who are approaching the end of their contracts even if there could still be a lot of experience walking out the door.
One player who has seen contract talks stall is Ibrahima Konate with the France international looking even more certain to depart Anfield at the end of the current campaign.
Bayern Munich are considering the 26-year old as a replacement for Dayot Upamecano with Real Madrid also eyeing a second Bosman swoop on Anfield. Konate knows that he isn’t going to be short of offers and, if Liverpool don’t offer the £200,000 per week salary that he wants, he will probably get it somewhere else.
Latest on Ibrahima Konate’s Liverpool contract
Speaking to The Athletic, Liverpool correspondent James Pearce has provided an update on the contract stand-off with one outcome looking increasingly likely: “There’s still no clarity with dialogue over an extension ongoing.
“I wrote about Konate’s situation a few weeks ago when sources close to the player stressed that he hadn’t made a decision over his future and insisted that speculation in Spain that he had ‘already given his word to Real Madrid’ to join them as a free agent next summer was inaccurate.
“However, the longer it drags on, the more likely it is that this will be Konate’s final season at Liverpool. He could sign a pre-contract agreement with a club overseas from January 1. He’s had a strange campaign so far – a poor start, much improved for a handful of games and then another dip before going off with a quad problem against Chelsea.”
Could Liverpool be better off without Konate?
Konate is a good player, however, he isn’t irreplaceable and, should Liverpool return for Marc Guehi as expected, he would find himself on the bench. The Crystal Palace skipper is more physical in that he doesn’t have the same lapses of concentration or dips in form that the Reds no.5 makes.
On his day and at his best, few are better in the Premier League, but Arne Slot doesn’t have to look to far into the past this season to see indecision and hesitancy that has led to goals or chances being conceded.
If Guehi is the sensible option at the top of the list, there are others who could easily replace Konate’s output and position in the squad. Upamecano has been mentioned with Jarrad Branthwaite another name in the mix.
The advantage that Richard Hughes has next summer, is that he doesn’t have a huge turnaround of players to oversee and will be tasked with fine tuning instead. Liverpool represent an attractive club for several reasons with the chance to play beside Virgil van Dijk and in front of Alisson a tempting proposition for any centre-half with the talent to appear on the recruitment chief’s radar.