Blackburn & Almeria in talks with Lorient for Ibrahima Koné | OneFootball

Championship club Blackburn Rovers and Spanish 1st division outfit Almeria are both in active negotiations with Ligue 1 outfit Lorient over the possible signing of 24-year-old Malian forward player Ibrahima Koné, according to L’Équipe.

The English 2nd division outfit have been tracking the player for several months as they seek to reconfigure the attack following the departure of Ben Brereton Diaz on a free transfer to Villarreal.

LaLiga club Almeria’s interest in the player is much more recent, perhaps just a couple of weeks old, and coincides with the likelihood that their striker El Bilal Touré joins Serie A outfit Atalanta.

Both clubs are negotiating to sign Koné on a permanent basis – he has another 3 years remaining on his contract with Les Merlus. Koné played a full Ligue 1 campaign over the duration of the 2022/23 campaign, making 37 appearances, 15 starts and scoring 7 goals in the French top flight.

He has not been formally placed on the transfer list, but Lorient are open to the possibility of him departing. They are demanding between €7m to €8m in order to make that happen.

GFFN | James Thorpe