Star signing: Real Madrid seal Ibrahima Konaté deal at World Cup | OneFootball

Real Madrid is wasting no time reshaping its squad for next season. In the midst of the Club World Cup, the Spanish club shook up the transfer market by officially announcing the signing of French defender Ibrahima Konaté, who arrives as a free agent after the end of his contract with Liverpool.

The 27-year-old center-back, currently with the French national team under Didier Deschamps, signed a long-term deal that will keep him with the “Merengue” club for the next four seasons, that is, until June 2030.

Florentino Pérez and Mourinho’s project overhaul

After two years without winning major titles, the board led by Florentino Pérez — recently reelected — began a deep rebuild. The man chosen to lead this new era from the bench is José Mourinho, who took over as head coach after the club’s elections and is aiming to return Madrid to the top of Spain and the UEFA Champions League.

Konaté’s arrival is not an isolated move. The Madrid dressing room will feel quite familiar to him for several reasons:

An aggressive transfer window

The Paris-born defender joins a list of top-level signings that Real Madrid has already been securing during this transfer window, most notably Bernardo Silva and Marc Cucurella (in addition to advanced talks for Dutch full-back Denzel Dumfries).

However, Mourinho’s biggest wish to complete his ideal midfield is Argentine Enzo Fernández. According to reports in the Spanish press, the club already has a contractual agreement with the midfielder and plans to present Chelsea with an offer of €100 million plus one player’s registration rights to unlock his departure from London.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.