Transfer News: Liverpool eye £52m Bundesliga star to shore up defensive crisis

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Transfer News: Fabrizio Romano confirmed on 29 May that Ibrahima Konate is leaving Liverpool as a free agent, with negotiations breaking down despite the player himself stating in April that he and the club were “close to an agreement.” TEAMtalk further cemented the news, confirming that Konate has made his final decision not to extend his deal, which expires on 30 June. Reports from CaughtOffside indicate the impasse came down to wages, with Konate already earning a reported £150,000 a week and Liverpool’s offer falling short of his demands.

Transfer news: Liverpool’s defensive options after Konate exit Liverpool’s already thin defensive unit now faces a real test, with a 34-year-old Virgil van Dijk leading the line alongside Joe Gomez, whose own future is uncertain, and youngsters Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet, both returning from serious injuries. Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg confirmed that Liverpool are among a select number of clubs able to trigger a release clause of €50 to 60 million in Schlotterbeck’s recently signed Dortmund contract, with that window expiring around 19 July.

Transfer news: Is this the right call from Liverpool? This is a club simultaneously replacing Mohamed Salah, rebuilding their attack around Hugo Ekitike’s long-term absence, and now patching a gaping hole in a backline that relied heavily on Konate’s physicality alongside van Dijk.