Ibrahima Konate’s Liverpool exit: Summer transfer window gets more complicated for Arne Slott | football news

Liverpool tried hard to keep hold of Ibrahima Konate, but for the second summer run they faced losing the first-team defender in his first year and his contract expired.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure has risen by at least £10m, with the Real Madrid club paying to get him out of the final month of his contract for the World Cup. Konate, meanwhile, will leave for free on July 1 after failing to agree to an extension.

It does not reflect well on a club that was not too long ago heralded as England’s best run. Connett, 27, may have had a difficult season but he has been almost always present for Liverpool, starting all but two games across the Premier League and Champions League.

Liverpool’s already thin defensive unit is set to lose one of its key components. They now have 34-year-old Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, whose future is uncertain this summer, and youngsters Giovanni Leone and Jeremy Jaquet, both recovering from serious injuries.

It is an unwanted distraction for Liverpool in a summer when dealing with the gaps in the forward line created by the departure of Mohamed Salah and an Achilles injury to Hugo Ekite, which will keep him out for most of 2026, is considered a matter of urgency.

Liverpool’s under-fire head coach Arne Slott has said at the end of a disappointing Premier League title defense that disgruntled fans are underestimating the impact of a good transfer window in turning around the club’s fortunes. The task became a little difficult.

Ken Connett is leaving Liverpool

Konate, signed from RB Leipzig for £36m in the summer of 2021, has always been Liverpool’s target. He was seen as an important part of the squad, especially as he overcame his injury problems to improve his availability over the past two seasons.

That reflected Liverpool opening contract talks with the France international’s representatives in November 2023, when he entered the final three years of his contract. As recently as April, Konate suggested he and the club were “close to an agreement”.

Sky Sports News Liverpool are understood to be willing to offer Connet significantly improved terms. However, they failed to reach an agreement.

Liverpool, among the highest wage spenders in world football, have shown with past extensions for Van Dijk and Salah that they are willing to shell out the cash to keep their star players. In this instance, it seems their assessment in Kona didn’t match that.

The club has a tight wage structure and, with a big summer of recruitment ahead, has to be mindful of financial sustainability. Regardless of who the player is, if they don’t fit that framework, renewal is unlikely, regardless of Liverpool’s desire to keep the player.

How Liverpool plan to cope without him

With Leoni, a £26m recruit from Parma last summer, and Jaquet, a £60m signing from Rennes, set to arrive in July, Liverpool believe they have signed the best young centre-backs in Italy and France. They definitely give more options to slots.

However, there are injury concerns after Leoni tore his ACL on his Liverpool debut against Southampton in the Carabao Cup in September. Although the jacket issue is seemingly less of an issue, he has been out since February with a shoulder problem.

Reports suggest that both players will return in pre-season with Gomez as the three senior central defensive options available for the slot while Van Dijk is at the World Cup with the Netherlands.

The summer tour of the United States will be Liverpool fans’ first chance to see their new signing in action. However, Leonie, 19, and Jacquet, 21 July, do not offer a wealth of experience and may be reluctant to rely heavily on them after a long spell out.

Meanwhile, Gomez is entering the final year of his contract at Liverpool and has been the subject of plenty of transfer speculation. The defender could have left on deadline day last summer, but Mark Guihy’s move to Anfield led to his decision to stay.

Liverpool have increasingly relied on Gomez this season as a right-back injury crisis saw Conor Bradley break his leg and Jeremy Frimpong’s hamstring problem proved a recurring problem on top of his unsuitability for the role.

Gomez has had his own persistent injury problems, and even if Liverpool keep hold of him this summer, past history would suggest he is not someone they can count on to play often.

Obviously, Jaquet, given the price he was signed for and his relative age compared to Leone, is set to be Van Dijk’s centre-back partner, but Liverpool still have a deeper problem to address in the heart of defense this summer as Konate is now off.

Another important priority for Liverpool

Liverpool could also do without losing another regular first-team starter while filling gaps in their priority forward line in the transfer window. Salah’s departure and a knee injury, which will keep him out for the foreseeable future, will leave the slot extremely short.

RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande appears to be Liverpool’s top right-wing target to replace Salah – but the 19-year-old faces strong competition for his signature with Manchester City and Manchester United among Europe’s top clubs.

Diomande is valued at around £86m (€100m) by Leipzig, who want to negotiate a new deal with the teenager, currently earning less than £35,000-a-week before bonuses, although the German club are not ruling out a sale should the right offer come in.

Liverpool are taking a mixed approach to replacing Salah as they don’t like anyone out there, especially in terms of numbers. Frimpong, signed as a right-back, has also shown he can play more when needed.

Preparations for life after Salah began last summer with the arrivals of Ektik and Aleksandar Isak, both of whom are capable of covering Liverpool centrally as well as playing on the left when fit. However, there are availability concerns around both players.

Ektike, of course, is out for one of the longer spells a footballer can suffer from a more complicated injury, while Isak missed 31 matches for Liverpool this past season, more than the 22 he played in total. It is important to improve its availability.

The emergence of seventeen-year-old Rio Ngumoha boosts the options on the left. Liverpool want to make sure they don’t block the teenager’s path to the first team, but he is not ready to be relied upon as a regular starter. Meanwhile, Cody Gakpo, the other option, had a disappointing season by his standards.

Finding versatile forwards who primarily play on the right, such as Diomonde, will be crucial for Liverpool to address their current deficit in attack. Now, the urge to sign a defender will also increase. Liverpool have a lot of catching up to do.