Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate is continuing to attract strong interest from Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, as previously reported by CaughtOffside.
Now, however, it is also understood that Barcelona and Bayern Munich have also joined the race for Konate’s signature as he still hasn’t agreed a new contract at Anfield.
After consulting well-placed sources in the industry, CaughtOffside have been told that Konate is still no closer to an agreement with Liverpool over a new deal.
Our information remains that the Reds have set an asking price of £40m for Konate this summer, in a bid to avoid losing him on a free in a year’s time.
However, that fee currently looks too high for interested clubs, meaning everything remains at something of a standstill for the moment.
What next for Liverpool contract rebel Ibrahima Konate?
Liverpool ended up losing Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid this summer, having failed to tie the England right-back down to a new contract.
They won’t want to end up suffering the same fate with Konate, but CaughtOffside understands that there is simply no current indication of a positive breakthrough in negotiations.
This puts LFC in a difficult position and one imagines clubs like Real, PSG, Bayern and Barca will feel confident in waiting it out rather than simply paying £40m for the France international now.
What’s a fair price for Konate?
We were previously told that Madrid could be tempted to pay something in the region of £25m to sign Konate early, but there have not yet been any formal talks or offers made.
It will be interesting to see if the interest of clubs like Barcelona and Bayern puts pressure on Real to move a bit quicker.
Liverpool won’t want to lose a key player like Konate for so cheap, and they may even calculate that it’s better for them to simply hold on to him for the final year of his contract.
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