Liverpool felt they had a good chance of keeping Ibrahima Konate as contract talks seemed to be progressing well about a month ago.
However, as first reported here for the Daily Briefing, it seems the Reds were blindsided slightly by the France international’s representatives also engaging with other clubs, including major rivals.
As things stand, Konate to Real Madrid is essentially all but agreed and just hinges on club president Florentino Perez winning the upcoming election.
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However, Konate was also open to the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, while Bayern Munich also showed an interest in him.
Sources on how “crazy” Ibrahima Konate transfer saga played out
“The Konate situation has been pretty crazy,” one source, who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, told me. “About a month ago it looked like he was engaging really positively with the idea of staying and signing a new deal with Liverpool. Real Madrid seemed to be out of the picture.
“At the same time, it seems his agents were keeping contacts alive, and that’s now led to a verbal agreement with Real Madrid. He was also open to Chelsea, Man United, and Bayern.”
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It would have been hugely controversial if Konate had left LFC for their bitter rivals Man Utd on a free, but fans can at least be relieved that that didn’t pan out.
Overall, though, it’s still a major blow to lose such a top player on a free, with Konate following Trent Alexander-Arnold in moving to the Bernabeu.
Liverpool facing difficult summer
Konate’s departure comes when Liverpool are already saying farewell to Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson, while Arne Slot has also just been sacked as manager.
It promises to be a summer of big changes at Anfield, with plenty of work needed to strengthen this squad, which looks a little light and lacking quality in several key areas.
It’s far from an ideal situation for incoming manager Andoni Iraola to be walking into.
They played LFC throughout the talks. He never had any intention of signing. All he wanted to do was to get the most out of LFC just so his team could feed it to RM to up their offer especially as he would be on a free. To be honest, he was so poor this year that I do not think he will be truly missed, providing we do get in a decent (no need to be expensive) replacement.
Those who were crying for Slot‘s head and finally got it, will sooner than later realise he had no tools to deliver. Just a quick squad comparison with Arsenal tells you volumes. If you do with Bayern or PSG you realise glory is quite some way off. Good luck to Iraola, he’ll need it.