A new report has indicated the pay packet that Ibrahima Konate had been seeking in order to agree a new contract at Liverpool.
The Frenchman will leave Anfield as a free agent this month after five years with the Reds, having been unable to reach an agreement on terms with the club over a renewed deal, and he’s set to join Real Madrid ahead of next season.
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As recently as mid-April, the defender publicly proclaimed that he was likely to remain on Merseyside, but it’s since emerged that there was a sizeable discrepancy between what he wanted and what FSG were prepared to offer him.
How much was Konate seeking in order to remain at Liverpool?
A report for Football Insider has claimed that Konate’s wage demands ‘killed’ any chances of a contract renewal at Liverpool, who were understood to have offered him a ‘similar’ package to what he was already earning (£150,000 per week, according to Capology)
It was mentioned that the Merseyside club were ‘willing to forego a transfer fee further down the line’, rather than agreeing to a deal which, ‘were it to have run for four years, would have been worth over £40m’, combined with additional costs such as agents fees.
That works out at £10m annually, which amounts to just over £192,000 per week.
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Could Liverpool have feasibly agreed to Konate’s demands?
The exits of Mo Salah and Andy Robertson will instantly remove £560,000 from Liverpool’s weekly wage bill (Capology), in which context an extra £42,000 or so for Konate would seem to have been more than feasible.
Had the Reds agreed to the centre-back’s demands, it would’ve brought him up to being the sixth best-paid player at Anfield, with five men in Andoni Iraola’s squad on £200,000 or more per week (Capology).
It didn’t help the 27-year-old’s case that he’d just endured a season which, even when allowing for the devastation of losing Diogo Jota and then his father, saw him turn in too many error-strewn performances, with a few costly mistakes not helping his team.
The frustration for Liverpool is that they now won’t receive a transfer fee for a player who should be in the prime of his career and would’ve fetched a tidy sum if his contract weren’t about to expire, but ultimately the club decided that was preferable to meeting his apparent wage demands.
Let’s just hope that, in time, the Anfield hierarchy don’t live to regret being unable to meet what Konate reportedly wanted in order to remain on Merseyside.
His head was turned ages ago with the prospect of going to Real Madrid for huge money. Just like trent was. Konate is rumoured to be getting 400,000 a week at Real Madrid. He was never going to stay at Liverpool when real Madrid are giving him that kind of money.
Liverpool football club can’t keep letting players go in a free transfer or for peanuts like Trent Alexander.
There are a number of Liverpool players who’s contract is running down.
Van dijk contract ends 2027
Alisson contract ends 2027
Gomez contract ends 2027
Tsimikas contract ends 2027
Jones contract ends 2027
Endo contract ends 2027
Bajcetic contract ends 2027
Rio ngumoha contract ends 2028
Szoboszlai contract ends 2028
Alexis mac allister contract ends 2028
Chiesa contract ends 2028
Szoboszlai contract needs to be sorted, As soon as Rio ngumoha is 18 give him a long term contract 6 years minimum.
Trent was making £180k, was offered £300 plus vice-captain. He refused and went to Real for £150k. Konate has been told by Real that he will most likely be a substitute unless he can prove otherwise and that his salary will be the same as what he currently gets at Liverpool at £150k. What they don’t realise is that homegrown clubs have more patience and tolerance towards you than those mercenary teams. You have to perform or you get chewed out and spat out. That idiot wanted out, let him go.
It sucks that we won’t get the transfer fee but Liverpool need to get their act together and not let those happen anymore. In the past couple of years we have Trent (low fee), Konate, Salah and Robertson leaving for free. Next year Alisson and VVD will also leave for free. Renew their contracts and sell them off if they want to go or you find they no longer fit. Can’t be waiting until the last year. Need to happen 2 years before the end of contract so that if no deals are agreed upon, we put them on the market the summer before their last year. The business has to be beneficial for both parties – enough getting taken advantage of.