Following the decision by Trent Alexander-Arnold to run down his Liverpool contract and join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer (though Madrid eventually paid £10M to get Liverpool to release him in time for the Club World Cup), attention soon turned to another Liverpool defender in Ibrahima Konaté.
The centre half, set to enter into the final year of his Liverpool contract in 2025-26, is also widely seen as a top target for Madrid, and there has been plenty of chatter over the past few months
suggesting he could be set to follow Alexander-Arnold’s lead. That he would seek to run down his contract and leave on a free.
That rumour and speculation may have been premature. At least according to club-connected journalist David lynch, who suggested this week that despite Madrid interest the word out of the player’s camp at the moment points to Konaté’s priority being a contract renewal that would keep him on Merseyside.
The bad news is that talks are said to have stalled of late, setting up a situation where potentially Konaté’s demands are significantly beyond what Liverpool are willing to meet. That would make talk of wanting to negotiate a new deal, at least potentially, meaningless public relations spin for the player.
Still, with recent chatter in Spain casting Konaté to Madrid in 2026 as something of a foregone conclusion, it’s positive to hear any kind of chatter from Liverpool or the player’s side of things suggesting that at least might not be the case and creating a sliver of hope where there really hasn’t been much of late.
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