The Premier League season is over and Liverpool salvaged the Champions League spot after finishing 5th in the Premier League, a place that this year, after now two years old rules, qualifies due to many points collected by English teams in European competitions.
Crystal Palace, won the Conference League, Aston Villa won the Europa League and Arsenal are in the final of the Champions League against reigning champion Paris Saint-Germain. – You can follow the showdown between the giants on Saturday in our Live service.
Read: Tottenham boss: “The club in worse shape than I thought…”
Liverpool, who have a lot to ponder this summer, including whether to keep manager Arne Slot, are considering a surprise replacement for Ibrahima Konaté after contract negotiations broke down.
The French centre-back is under contract until the end of June, Liverpool have given up on getting an extension. – This winter, Real Madrid moved forward to secure the 27-year-old, but it was stopped by the bosses at Anfield.
Konaté ends a five-year stay at Anfield.
The 27-year-old stopper was heavily linked with Real Madrid during the previous transfer window, but has since received criticism from Liverpool supporters for his performances this season.
The Reds made a move in January when they completed the £55m transfer of Rennes centre-back Jeremy Jacquet, but he has since missed much of the season due to a shoulder injury.
Now, however, Liverpool need to sign a new centre-back after Konaté’s departure, although Italian youth international Giovanni Leoni is said to be on his way back from a cruciate ligament injury just in time for the start of pre-season.
A surprise candidate has been discussed internally to fill the void.
Liverpool identify possible Konaté replacement
This is reported by TEAMtalk, who claim that Liverpool have had talks about bringing homegrown Jarell Quansah back to the club from Bayer Leverkusen.
The 23-year-old barely played for manager Arne Slot in the Dutchman’s first season in charge at Anfield. Still, his £35m transfer was something of a surprise last summer – and the surprise was only made bigger by the fact that Liverpool simply didn’t replace him.
Quansah has impressed in Germany, and he goes to the World Cup with England after being selected in Thomas Tuchel’s final 26-man squad.
Quansah has had an impressive first season at Bayer Leverkusen, and according to sources, the Reds still have “great admiration” for his “long-term potential”. The club is still following his development “closely”, despite the fact that he is no longer a Liverpool player.
The centre-back has made 44 appearances in all competitions for Leverkusen this season, scoring five goals.
The German team will not play in the Champions League next season after finishing sixth in the Bundesliga. Instead, there will be games in the Europa League.
Does Liverpool have a buy-back clause for Quansah?
It has become increasingly common for big clubs to include a buy-back clause when selling one of their younger players.
This is also the case for Quansah – but it’s a bit more complicated than you might think.
It is claimed that Liverpool could buy the centre-back back from Leverkusen for around £70 million this summer, but that amount then drops to around £50 million from the summer of 2027.
However, given Liverpool’s lack of coverage at centre-back, the club may consider it better to pay extra to bring Quansah back to Anfield a year earlier.
Quansah told Sky Sports News last month that he “wouldn’t say it was the hardest decision” to leave Liverpool, due to a lack of game time under Slot.
“I just wanted to play,” he said.
“I felt like I could play at the top level. The Bundesliga is a top league and I could play in the Champions League and in big games… When the guys from Leverkusen came on the pitch and I saw everything they wanted, I think from that moment on it was the right decision.”
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