It was expected that Ibrahima Konate would renew his contract and stay at Liverpool. However, with him now set to depart the club and join Real Madrid, the Reds are in disarray.
Konate may not have had the best of seasons, but he was a key part of their title win in the 2024/25 season. This led to links to Real Madrid, but after the campaign, it was not clear that Los Blancos would still want him.
Real Madrid did not have a good campaign either, and is now trophyless in their last two seasons. This has led them to reappoint Jose Mourinho as manager in a bid to deliver imminent success back to the club.
Konate is also only 27, so he could still have had many years at the top of his game at Liverpool ahead of him. However, as with many Liverpool players, the temptation of Real Madrid is too great. Trent Alexander-Arnold is a recent example of a player swapping Anfield for the Bernabeu.
The Reds do still have Virgil van Dijk in their ranks. However, he is now 34 and approaching the latter stages of his career. They also have the 19-year-old, Giovanni Leoni, but he missed almost the entirety of last season due to a cruciate ligament tear. Joe Gomez is also still at the club, but he is also injury-prone and will be entering the final year of his contract.
Who does Liverpool replace Ibrahima Konate with?
The Reds will also have a new manager after moving swiftly to agree with Andoni Iraola to be their next boss. Things had turned sour with Arne Slot after he won the Premier League in his first season at the club.
Liverpool spent big last summer, recruiting the likes of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz. However, Slot was unable to guide the club to mount a challenge to retain their title. They had to settle for fifth place, which still qualified them for the Champions League.
Iraola is arriving from a very well-run club in AFC Bournemouth, which can replace players swiftly.
They lost the likes of Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi, and Milos Kerkez last summer. Furthermore, they then sold Antoine Semenyo in January, but Iraola still got them to finish sixth. This was just three points behind Liverpool.
If Liverpool had known earlier that Konate would be departing, they could have stepped up their efforts to sign a top center-back. Marcos Senesi, who Iraola had with Bournemouth, now looks set to join Tottenham Hotspur.
There are other alternative center-back options, but they might be difficult to sign. This includes the likes of Jan Paul van Hecke of Brighton and Zabarnyi, who is now with PSG. The Reds need to sign a proven Premier League center-back to replace Konate.
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