Liverpool Confident Over New Konaté Deal Despite Real Madrid Interest - Media Watch
By Steven Northover
Spanish giants Real Madrid have apparently stepped back from their pursuit of Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstien.
The French defender, currently in the last year of his Liverpool contract, has long been admired in the Spanish capital, but that seems to be coming to an end.
Konate has endured an already forgettable season, and has been at fault a number of time that lead to a goal - most recently on Wednesday night against PSV, and it appears that Los Blancos are ready to move on to new targets. However, although Real Madrid may have pulled out, there is still no guarantee that the
defender, capped 26 times for France, will sign a new contract at Liverpool.
Born in Paris, Konate has never hid his connection to current European champions, Paris Saint Germain, going as far as to say that he would ‘often go to the stadium’ as a child. So it is no wonder that PSG is likely to be on ‘pole position’ to sign the defender, with the higher-ups at Anfield willing to let the 149 appearance defender leave on a free, if no agreement can be reached in January.
However, given the drop in Konate’s performances this year (although he's not the only Liverpool player to have that issue this season), and the likely arrival of a defender either in January or the summer transfer window, it seems like Ibrahima Konate’s time at Liverpool is coming to close, and his departure is now just a question of ‘when’ and not ‘if’.