After Kerkez: Liverpool to accelerate talks for fifth transfer amid Real Madrid threat – opinion

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Empire of the Kop

·25 de junho de 2025

After Kerkez: Liverpool to accelerate talks for fifth transfer amid Real Madrid threat – opinion

Ibrahima Konate’s future at Liverpool is reportedly in serious doubt.

The Frenchman has yet to put pen to paper on updated terms ahead of his current contract expiring in the summer of 2026.

Vídeos OneFootball

This leaves the Merseysiders with fresh fears of a repeat of the situation that saw Real Madrid capitalise on free agent Trent Alexander-Arnold this summer.

In fact, amid rumours of interest from Los Blancos in Konate, fans may need to mentally steel themselves for almost identical circumstances in 2026.

Ibrahima Konate unhappy with wage structure

(Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Mark Brus over at Empire’s sister site, CaughtOffside, now exclusively reports that the centre-half isn’t happy with the structure of the deal presented. Specifically, the favouring of performance-related add-ons over a fixed £200,000-a-week figure.

The report goes on to add that both PSG and Real Madrid are maintaining a watching brief amid ongoing contract talks.

Liverpool, for their part, have no interest in parting ways with Ibrahima Konate this summer to avoid potentially losing the centre-back for free next year.

Signing a centre-back is a priority for Liverpool

This ongoing saga does highlight one clear objective for sporting director Richard Hughes: we need to sign centre-back reinforcements.

Jarell Quansah’s £30m exit to Bayer Leverkusen has already left us short of backup, with the club now only able to call upon Joe Gomez as a senior centre-half behind Virgil van Dijk and Konate.

We can, of course, rely upon Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch as auxiliary centre-backs – if absolutely necessary.

But, quite frankly, it would seem negligent now not to secure further defensive additions, particularly whilst our Frenchman’s future continues to hang in the balance.

Liverpool could accelerate talks for Premier League defender Marc Guehi

On that note, we’re understood to be assessing the developing situation around Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi. The Englishman’s current terms are also set to expire in 2026, and there’s a growing sense that Liverpool could capitalise on the opportunity.

We could always gamble on Konate’s future and the possibility of us figuring things out with his contract. It certainly all worked out in the end with Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah.

But don’t be surprised if our recruitment team tries to push on with an option like Guehi ahead of pre-season. Especially if the price is right!

That certainly looks the likeliest outcome, in our view.

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