Liverpool ‘hold talks’ to sign £57m PSG star as Reds are offered ‘intriguing’ opportunity | OneFootball

Liverpool have been offered the chance to sign Paris Saint-Germain defender Ilya Zabarnyi ahead of the summer transfer window, according to reports.

The Reds are set to lose Ibrahima Konate on a free transfer after widespread reports indicated that the France international and Liverpool could not come to an agreement on a new contract.

Romano revealed over the weekend that “the story is over” between Konate and Liverpool as he lifted the lid on why new contract talks collapsed.

The Italian said on his YouTube channel: “At the moment, Konaté has still not decided on what’s going to be his future but there is one guarantee today – for Ibrahima Konaté and Liverpool, the story is over. The deal is off. Konaté is going to leave Liverpool on a free transfer this summer.

“That’s a big story because, back in April, the agreement between Konaté and Liverpool was very close. Only two things were missing. The length of the contract was okay, and the salary was okay. The issues were linked to the bonuses in his contract.

“When you negotiate important contracts with important players, you can include a bonus if you win the Premier League, a bonus if you win the Champions League, and all this sort of stuff. Then, it was also about how to activate some of the normal bonuses.

“The extra bonuses were about winning trophies, and the other regular bonuses were about the number of appearances or those sorts of things—what they call ‘easy’ or ‘difficult’ bonuses.

“The agreement on these two points was never reached. Ibrahima was very confident; he even went to the press in April and said, ‘We are close to signing a new contract.’ When a player goes public like this, you know the agreement is almost done. And that was the case because, again, the salary structure and the length of the contract were ready, but then suddenly the deal went off.

“There was no agreement on these final details. They took weeks and weeks negotiating, and now the deal has collapsed. So, Ibrahima Konaté leaves Liverpool after five years at the club.”

There have already been rumours that Bayer Leverkusen’s Jarrell Quansah – who left Liverpool for Germany last summer – or Borussia Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck could be coming in for replace Konate.

However, DaveOCKOP has revealed that Liverpool ‘have been offered the opportunity to sign Paris Saint-Germain defender Ilya Zabarnyi while in talks with his representatives’.

Jones talks lead Liverpool to Zabarnyi opportunity

During talks with Curtis Jones’ agents about a potential move away from Anfield this summer, Liverpool got talking to the same agency about a move for Ukraine international Zabarnyi.

DaveOCKOP added: ‘While discussions took place over Jones’ future it can be revealed that a proposal was also brought to Liverpool’s attention.

‘Liverpool was approached with the idea of signing Ilya Zabarnyi. It could turn out to be an intriguing proposal for the Reds.

‘Talks are at an exploratory stage. The club has simply been presented with the option, and it is understood initial dialogue has taken place

‘Zabarnyi is thought to be not entirely happy in the French capital, and Paris Saint-Germain would be open to selling if their terms are met. PSG signed him from Bournemouth last summer in a deal worth £54.5 million (€63 million guaranteed), with a further £2.6 million in potential add-ons.’