According to reports from France, a prominent European club has designs on raiding Liverpool for one of their players this summer.
L’Equipe have claimed that Paris Saint-Germain have sounded out a potential move for Ibrahima Konate in the belief that there may be an opportunity to pounce for the 25-year-old, who’s about to enter the final two years of his current Anfield contract.
Although the Ligue 1 champions haven’t made a direct approach for the Reds’ number 5, intermediaries have signalled that they’d be interested in snapping him up as they search for a centre-back addition during the off-season.
However, the Frenchman is believed to be happy at Liverpool and is due to meet with senior figures from the club in the near future with a view to accelerating talks over a possible extension to his existing deal.
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We can see why PSG would want to sign Konate if they’re looking for centre-backs this summer, but having already seen Joel Matip exit at the end of his contract, Liverpool can’t afford to part with another senior player in that position straight away.
Despite the 25-year-old being well below his best towards the end of the season and losing his starting berth to Jarell Quansah, he’s still a powerful defender who, for the most part, has merited Phil Thompson’s description of being ‘an absolute dream‘ for the Reds.
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Only Virgil van Dijk among the LFC squad won more aerial duels than the Frenchman’s 77 in the most recent Premier League campaign, and the captain was also the sole player to better his defensive partner’s tackle success rate of 75% (FBref).
Konate is now at an age where we should hopefully see the best of him over the next few years, and Liverpool must send out a signal that Anfield is not a stepping stone for players to subsequently move on to PSG, who for all their domestic dominance have still reached just one Champions League final (which they lost).
We don’t think Ibou will be going anywhere this summer except to Germany in June and July to help his country in their pursuit of a third European title.
Ivor is under contract until 2026. So unless he asks for a move AND PSG offer in excess of £75m he stays.