Fabrizio Romano Shares Major Ibrahima Konate Update as Real Madrid Monitor Liverpool’s Growing Transfer Concerns
Ibrahima Konate’s situation has been updated by Fabrizio Romano, as Real Madrid attempts to sign the defender as a free agent next summer.
At the end of the current campaign, Konate’s contract with Liverpool expires, and Madrid is eager to get the France international centre defender on a free transfer.
At the end of the previous season, Los Blancos signed Trent Alexander-Arnold from the reigning Premier League winners, and the Spanish and European powerhouses are eager to sign another of their top players.
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According to several trustworthy transfer insider, Konate is still undecided between joining Real Madrid or staying at Liverpool.
Since the 26-year-old France international centre defender has all the cards in negotiations, it would make sense for Konate to wait and see how things work out.
The French media has also implied that Liverpool is “confident” that Konate will remain, while the Spanish media thinks Madrid already has the defender’s support. Now, reliable transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on Konate’s condition.
Although the Italian journalist disclosed that there were “issues” during negotiations between Konate and Liverpool around this time last year, he emphasised that the Reds are still in talks and have not given up on persuading him to sign a contract, adding that there is no deal in place between the French player and Madrid.
“It’s another interesting situation because Liverpool is still in conversation with his agents for Konate,” Romano stated on the most recent episode of the Here We Go podcast.
It’s been a unique situation because Konate was almost ready to sign a new contract with Liverpool a year ago, in October 2024. After that, there were some complications with the new deal’s structure, which caused the negotiations to drag on.
The agreement is still in the early stages of discussion and is still open between Liverpool and Konate.
“Since it wasn’t agreed upon, a number of clubs, including Real Madrid, in Europe, may be interested in Konate’s situation.” Real Madrid was keeping an eye on William Saliba’s case, but he chose to sign a new contract with Arsenal.
As a result, Real Madrid now has other possibilities, and Konate is at least one of them, but it’s not with Real Madrid. Liverpool is still in talks with the player to try to extend the deal because it’s too soon to tell what will happen with Madrid.
It will be another major war, so let’s prepare in case it doesn’t happen. “I believe Konate will be another well-known player to watch in the coming week because Real Madrid will be there in addition to others.”
The handling of Ibrahima Konate has drawn criticism from Liverpool’s media
Due to injuries and errors against Bournemouth, Newcastle United, and Galatasaray, Konate has not played at his best for Liverpool this season.
Rio Ferdinand, a former Manchester United player, feels that Konate’s criticism is unfair because the defender did perform well against Arsenal and Everton.
“There’s no way that Konate had a poor performance last season and he’s getting the headline treatment,” Ferdinand stated on his YouTube channel.
Only because Real Madrid is interested will there be irate supporters and members of the Liverpool-supporting media who will now begin to blame him and point the finger.
“Or, if there is a small error here and two people need to share blame, he will most likely receive it now due to that circumstance.”
“I look from a center-back’s point of view and Konate is getting a bit of stick at the start of the season, let’s be honest,” said Conor Coady, a former Liverpool defender who is currently at Wrexham.
However, you must keep in mind that he must now play in a new manner. In other words, he is now forced to defend in the channel since Szoboszlai is out of midfield and Frimpong or Conor Bradley are out of position.
They took advantage of that channel, so Konate had to go out and defend. Now, from the perspective of a centre-back, you don’t want to go out there and defend as a right-back. It’s difficult; you’re not out there for a reason—you’re not fast enough.
“Even though Trent would move into midfield, I always assumed he was there.” He received a lot of criticism for his defence, but now that there isn’t a full-back in position, the space is freed up whenever the ball is in transition, forcing Konate to defend in the channel with a huge gap.
“I’m telling you now, there’s a reason you play centre-back instead of right-back, and no centre-back wants to defend there.”
