Ibrahima Konate: Frenchman may have had ‘rug pulled’ by Liverpool to leave him without a club

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So much uncertainty surrounds Liverpool going into Sunday’s final game of the season, with Ibrahima Konate’s contract one of the issues yet to be settled.Unbelievably, the Frenchman will play against Brentford without knowing if he will sign an extension, despite declaring with confidence that an agreement was close in April.Since then there has been radio silence, and journalist David Lynch has now explained that the hesitation is likely coming from Liverpool themselves rather than Konate. Speaking to Anfield Index on Monday, the reporter said that to his understanding Konate is very keen to stay, meaning the hold-up is coming from the club side.“I don’t know if I would say that [he’s nailed on to leave] on the basis that the player wants to stay,” Lynch said.

He still wants to stay.”Photo by Mark Cosgrove/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesREAD MORE: Mohamed Salah had not given up on the idea of a dramatic U-turn to stay at Liverpool until recently“I’ve had conversations this week, I was told a couple of days ago that this period was crucial, the next 48 hours or so, in fact I better check in on that today to see where that’s up to! “The player would stay if he could, so let’s see what happens,” he added.

“The fact he was so confident it would get done a few weeks ago and now it’s seemingly in doubt would suggest to me that maybe Liverpool have pulled the rug on him a little bit. So, fascinating situation that one and let’s see how it plays out.”Lynch also pushed back on suggestions that Konate is looking for numbers as high as £300k-per-week.“We don’t know the numbers on Konate’s contract until that would be signed,” he said.It is rare that a player will get so close to the end of his contract and still end up signing, but with an official confirmation on Konate’s exit still to arrive, hope should still remain that this will be one of those anomalies.