Fabrizio Romano has revealed a new update on Ibrahima Konate, with a five-word claim indicating that Liverpool may be fighting a losing battle…
Liverpool have enjoyed a perfect start to this season, winning all five of their Premier League games, despite not performing at their peak, to sit clear at the top of the table.
It is pretty alarming for Arsenal that they could end this weekend eight points adrift of the Premier League holders, who look likely to further assert their dominance once Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak are fully bedded into Arne Slot’s side.
Therefore, the odds are firmly stacked in favour of Liverpool going back-to-back, with their centre-back situation perhaps the only potential barrier to them winning their 21st Premier League title this season.
Their failure to sign Marc Guehi on deadline day was the only blot on an otherwise perfect transfer window, with Liverpool to have a serious issue if/when Konate, Joe Gomez and/or Virgil van Dijk join Giovanni Leoni in getting injured.
READ: Arsenal and Liverpool play down £86m transfer panic despite ‘bad planning’
A more pressing issue with Konate relates to his contract situation, with the centre-back among the most valuable footballers who could become a free agent in 2026.
With Konate, Liverpool face a repeat of the Trent Alexander-Arnold situation as Real Madrid appear to be ready to strike next year to secure another free transfer.
And Romano’s new update on Konate’s future indicates there may only be one outcome of this “complicated” situation because “the conversation is still difficult”.
“Real Madrid don’t forget the name of Ibrahima Konate because his situation compared to Saliba has always been different,” Romano said on his YouTube channel.
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“For Saliba, there were active conversations to extend, but for Konate the situation has always been complicated since November.
“A new contract at Liverpool was quite close in October/November 2024, then there were some changes in the conversation and now the conversation is still difficult.
“Liverpool are still trying to extend the contract of Konate, and they made new attempts in August, but at the moment it looks difficult. It looks complicated.
“So Konate is one of the names we have to keep on Real Madrid’s shortlist because they love a free transfer, because Konate is a player they appreciate and because Real Madrid have a very good relationship with the agents of Konate.
“So, for sure, Konate is still a possibility for Real Madrid. Until January, nothing will happen because Real Madrid will never do anything illegal by negotiating or agreeing with the player before January.
“If he doesn’t extend the contract, Konate is going to be free to talk with any club and so Real Madrid is a possibility.”
This has been the mantra regarding Konate and Liverpool for months, with the lack of change since the end of 2024 indicating that the defender’s head may already be turned with a view to joining Real Madrid.