Arne Slot, Virgil van Dijk Plead With Liverpool Over Ibrahima Konate Contract

The French defender is in the final four months of his current terms.

Ibrahima Konaté’s contract is winding down. | Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images

Virgil van Dijk has urged Liverpool to agree a new contract with his centre-back partner Ibrahima Konaté, with manager Arne Slot also keen to see an agreement reached soon.

Konaté’s current contract expires at the end of the season and there has been very little progress over an extension for a player who has attracted interest from a number of Europe’s elite sides, including Real Madrid.

“Obviously I want him to stay,” Van Dijk said. “He’s an important figure on the pitch. That, everyone sees, but off the pitch as well. He’s one of the leaders and he’s an outstanding and, in my eyes, world-class centre back.

“I can only do so much, but it’s in the club’s hands, together with his agents and himself, so let’s see what comes out of it. But I have no influence otherwise on that.

Slot, who described Konaté as a “vital” piece of the team, added: “We are in talks with him so that tells you what we want. It’s clear we would like him to stay but negotiations are ongoing so let’s see where that ends. We wouldn’t be in negotiations if we didn’t want him to stay.”

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Why Hasn’t Konaté Signed a New Liverpool Contract?

Talks with Konaté are yet to yield any positive results. | Liverpool FC/Getty Images

As Slot points out, Liverpool’s desire to retain Konaté is obvious, not least because the prospect of losing yet another valuable asset for free 12 months after Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure would be terrible for business.

Talks between the two parties have been ongoing for months now but an extension is still nowhere in sight. Given he already has a key role in the team, the delay is not believed to have anything to do with Liverpool’s plans for Konaté.

One stumbling block has been the finances. Reliable reports back in October claimed Konaté was looking for a contract which would see him join the likes of Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah on club-high wages.

Handing out such a salary is feasible for Liverpool but club officials must now decide whether doing so makes financial sense for a club whose wage bill is already high. On-field struggles mean Liverpool are also not yet able to bank on the extra income that comes from playing in the Champions League next season.

In the background, suitors from across Europe are thought to be reaching out. Moving on a free transfer is usually incredibly lucrative to the player involved, whose reward for turning down an extension and moving without a transfer fee usually comes in the form of higher wages and a bumper signing-on fee.

Konaté will be well aware of the teams chasing his signature. Clubs overseas are already permitted to hold formal talks with the 26-year-old, whose financial demands will undoubtedly be dictated by the offers he has already received from elsewhere.

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The Clubs Interested in Konaté

Konaté will have his pick of suitors. | Marc Atkins/Getty Images

For a while, it seemed like Konaté was destined to join Real Madrid.

Konaté was seen as a key target for Los Blancos at the start of the season, but their interest is thought to have faded after the Frenchman’s underwhelming form at the beginning of the campaign left them looking elsewhere.

However, recent reports have touted Konaté as a target for Madrid once again, not least because of the fact other targets, namely Marc Guéhi and Dayot Upamecano, are no longer available.

Bayern Munich were linked with Konaté before securing Upamecano’s future, while Paris Saint-Germain have long flirted with the idea of bringing the defender back to his hometown. Barcelona have also been tipped to join the race.

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