Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has only passed on his contract for a year and the 26-year-old is strongly connected to a move to Real Madrid on a free transfer
Ibrahima Konate reportedly announced Real Madrid that he wants to join them with a free transfer when his Liverpool contract ends the next summer. Real Madrid signed Konate's former teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold after he left his contract, although they paid Liverpool £ 10 million to release him so that he could play at the Club World Cup.
The Spanish giants have a history of signing players in similar situations, such as Kylian Mbappe, David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger all the switch to the Bernabeu as free agents in recent years.
And it seems as if Konate could follow, where Sky Sports Switzerland reports that the defender was 'made clear' that he wants to sign for Real Madrid. The report also notes that recent discussions with Liverpool have not led to any progress through a contract extension.
The news emerges after reporting last month and claimed that Konate is disappointed about the last offer of Liverpool. It is claimed that the 26-year-old wants a higher basic wage than the Reds offered, which was 'heavily based on achieving certain performance goals'.
Konate tackled the speculation after last season of Liverpool's last Premier League match and admitted that he is not sure what the future will entail. “You know, I only want to say one thing: everything you saw on social media is completely fake,” he said.
“I didn't even ask anything from the club. They made me an offer, and I answered them with something, that's it. The rest (speculation) that I want to wait until the end … I want this, it's all completely fake.
“And even the big journalists said in November that I am very close to signing the deal. I had something like:” Ah, they have more information than me! ” Because it wasn't true at the time and that's why I was a bit angry because it wasn't true at the moment.
“I knew that at some point people would think that I did not want to sign the contract, but I was never close to signing. We will see what will happen. I am very happy because we have won the Premier League trophy and we have lifted it today.
“We have to enjoy it, rest and hopefully will be better than this next season. I didn't expect [contract] Ask this way! (laughs) But you are smart, you are smart. To be honest, to win a trophy, even when I won my first trophy with Liverpool, the FA Cup, was just great.
“And today, to win the Premier League, I know that I have a lot of goals with this club: to become a leader, to win everything. I am very happy to be honest here, you know where you want to go with this question and this is another conversation with the club and my agent, we will see what will happen in the coming weeks or I will see, I will see, I will see, I will see.
“Didn't go on? Not really, but my agent met the club last week, but I don't know what will happen. I can't say what my agent said to me, but yes, we'll see what will happen.”