“Noises Are Not Particularly Positive…” – Paul Gorst On Ibou Konate’s Liverpool Contract Situation

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Liverpool returned to Premier League action this weekend following an unusually positive international break for a few of their key men with another late late win as the new-look men in teal were rescused by a late Mohamed Salah penalty at Turf Moor.

Deadline-day sensation Alexander Isak played some competitive minutes for Sweden, with Arne Slot praising coach Jon Dahl Tomasson’s handling of the situation, given his lack of pre-season fitness.

The Reds’ other nine-figure signing, Florian Wirtz, scored a great free kick for Germany against Northern Ireland, suggesting that the club’s set-piece taking should go from strength to strength following the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

One man tipped to follow Trent to Real Madrid on a free transfer is centre-back Ibrahima Konaté.

The Frenchman has less than a year of his current contract remaining, and Spanish media giant Marca reported earlier this week that he has already rejected three offers to extend.

Will Ibou become the latest in a long line of high-profile free transfers to Real?

Liverpool Supporters Go Wild After Mo Salah’s Injury Time Winner Against Burnley!

On the latest episode of our Journo Insight show, we asked the Liverpool Echo’s LFC correspondent, Paul Gorst, for his thoughts on the Konaté story.

Paul said:

“There was a story from Marca that he had rejected a Liverpool contract offer, and what I would suggest is that there’s no one at Liverpool who is revealing that information privately.

“They’re under strict orders that anything on contracts just doesn’t get released or discussed or anything like that, and that was the way it was throughout the Mohamed Salah ordeal, the Trent Alexander-Arnold situation and Virgil van Dijk’s.

“This does feel a bit Trent-esque.

We’re starting to get the whispers and the feeling that Real Madrid could be in his future.

“People at Real Madrid would tell you a similar line to what people at Liverpool would – he’s not our player so we don’t talk about him, and that was the case with Trent last summer

“It may not be the truth, but Liverpool fans might feel that he’d been down this path before and know the way it usually ends, so, yeah, let’s wait and see.

“We had a chance to speak to Konaté about this the day of the Palace game… he sounded quite positive.

Another year, and another drawn-out pursuit of a Liverpool defender by Real Madrid appears to be on the cards.

Whilst the ‘big three’ were the priorities for contract extensions last season, Ibou Konaté revealed the club had approached him with new terms at the turn of the year, showing that there has been a desire to avoid a repeat of the situation surrounding Trent Alexander-Arnold.