Real Madrid announce Konaté signing on a free transfer | OneFootball

Real Madrid have announced the signing of Ibrahima Konaté on a four-year deal to June 2030.

According to El Periódico Mediterráneo, the club have issued a statement each morning this week as José Mourinho shapes his squad. Monday brought Marc Cucurella, Tuesday saw Antonio Rüdiger renew, Wednesday delivered Bernardo Silva, and today it is Konaté.

He joins without a fee because his Liverpool contract expires in 12 days, after talks in which he informed the Reds he would not renew. Madrid had tracked him for months, hesitated, then committed, with Florentino Pérez flagging the deal during his election campaign against Enrique Riquelme.

Konaté is with France at the World Cup. He did not play their opener against Senegal, with Saliba and Upamecano preferred. He spent five seasons at Anfield, starting the last three alongside Van Dijk.

Madrid now have five centre-backs on their books, Konaté, Huijsen, Militao, Rüdiger and Asencio. Mourinho does not plan to use the Spaniard and wants another option, mindful of Militao’s fitness issues and Rüdiger no longer playing twice a week.

At least one more announcement is still to come this week, Denzel Dumfries for 20 million euros, described by Pérez as a very good right-back from Inter Milan. Names such as Schlotterbeck and Calafiori are being mentioned, and it is shaping up to be a long summer at Real Madrid despite four deals already completed.

Source: El Periódico Mediterráneo