Liverpool may be halfway around the world this July, but they are still conducting plenty of business.

The Reds rubber-stamped their fourth major addition of the summer on Wednesday, announcing the arrival of Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt.

Ekitike arrives with plenty of excitement surrounding him, and will immediately jet off to Hong Kong to link up with the Liverpool squad.

In the meantime, Liverpool are also reportedly working hard behind the scenes to ensure Ekitike still has a countryman at the club beyond next summer.

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Ibrahima Konate will likely be a key figure in settling the new man in, but has serious question marks over his future at Anfield.

Claims that Liverpool have upped their contract offer to Konate arrived from French outlet Footmercato late on Wednesday evening, leading journalist Fabrizio Romano to provide an update on the situation.

Photo by Nikki Dyer – LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

With Liverpool already short at centre-back for the time being, they could really do with Konate’s future being sorted.

And according to Footmercato, they are trying to make sure this ends in a positive way.

The Reds are said to have made the 26-year-old a new offer on better terms.

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Speaking to his YouTube channel even later on Wednesday evening, Romano said that Liverpool are indeed still hopeful of keeping Konate out of Real Madrid’s clutches.

“I can tell you guys that they [Liverpool] are still not opening the doors for this summer for Ibrahima Konate to go to Real Madrid,” revealed the transfer expert.

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“What I can tell you is that Real Madrid really like the player, he’s really appreciated internally, he’s also been discussed internally with staff and management, but at the moment there is no bid to Liverpool because they are not opening the doors to an exit for Konate this summer.

But Liverpool still hope to try and reach an agreement with Konate in the next months.

Now Liverpool are still hoping to convince Konate to stay, but Real Madrid are following the situation closely.”

Liverpool are clearly working hard to ensure Konate does not follow Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid at the end of this contract.

The centre-back has been an absolutely key player for Arne Slot and it would be a real blow to lose him for nothing.

For the moment, Konate’s future appears to hang in the balance.

If Konate turns down Liverpool’s latest offer, then that would perhaps be the end of the whole matter.

Big days ahead for Konate and Liverpool.