It will not be an easy task to replace Ibrahima Konaté in Liverpool’s central defence, but that is the situation, after the Frenchman became known and Liverpool did not reach an agreement in the negotiations. Liverpool wanted to keep the 27-year-old, Konaté himself gave no signals he wanted away from Anfield. So what happened?
Konaté has announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of his contract this month, after two and a half years of negotiations failed to reach an agreement with the club. According to Football-Insider’s sources , the Frenchman demanded a sharp salary increase compared to the deal he signed when he joined from RB Leipzig in 2021.
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But Liverpool were not willing to meet the centre-back’s demands, and instead only offered him what is said to have been a “similar” package to the one he already had, it is reported. This, combined with additional costs for the player, such as agent fees, eventually led to talks about a new deal collapsing.
As a result, Konate will leave Liverpool on a free transfer at the end of June, ending a five-year career on Merseyside.
It will be expensive to replace a player like Konaté, but the salary structure will be hammered back into place, where individual negotiations will not create long-term financial problems.
Real Madrid are said to be willing to pay free agent Konaté a willing £400,000 in weekly wages, massively up from the Frenchman’s weekly wage at Liverpool of around £150,000. Liverpool had no choice but to put on the brakes.
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