‘Here we go’ – Fabrizio Romano breaks news of Ibrahima Konate ‘agreement’ after Liverpool exit | OneFootball

Within days of confirming his exit from Liverpool, Ibrahima Konate reportedly has a ‘verbal agreement in place’ to sign for Real Madrid.

A few weeks ago it looked as though the defender would sign a contract extension at Anfield, but ultimately he and the club couldn’t agree on terms over a new deal, and he’s now set to depart as a free agent this month.

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The likes of Chelsea and Al-Ittihad were reportedly seeking to capitalise on those developments by snapping up the 27-year-old on a free transfer, but instead he seems destined for the Bernabeu.

Konate has ‘verbal agreement’ to join Real Madrid

Taking to X on Tuesday afternoon, Fabrizio Romano posted: ‘BREAKING: Real Madrid have verbal agreement in place with Ibrahima Konaté! Four year deal to be signed, depending on if/when Florentino Pérez is re-elected. Here we go, expected right after.’

The Italian transfer guru added that the France international had ‘put Saudi bids on hold’ in waiting out for a move to Los Blancos, information that he attributed to Spanish reporter Marcos Benito.

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An all too familiar ending for Liverpool fans…

For Liverpool fans, Konate’s impending move to the Bernabeu will feel all too familiar, coming 12 months after his former teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold also ran down his contract before joining the 15-time European champions.

Technically that wasn’t a free transfer as Real Madrid paid the Reds £8.4m to have the right-back signed in time for the Club World Cup, but in effect it’s a repeat scenario with the French centre-back.

Although the France international received plenty of criticism for his performances during a patchy season, it doesn’t reflect particularly well on the Merseyside club that they’ve failed to recoup a transfer fee for an experienced 27-year-old defender with an estimated market value of £33m (Football Transfers).

If Liverpool are to replace Konate with a top-level centre-back of a similar age profile, £33m mightn’t even be a starting point for negotiations, which compounds the torment of seeing him walk out the door for nothing, and to a team with whom we’ve developed quite a rivalry on the European stage over the past decade.

We can only hope that, with the passage of time, we’re not left to sorely regret the impending free transfer exit of the Frenchman.