Liverpool have been told to send Ibrahima Konate packing and prey on Aston Villa’s PSR woes to source a replacement this summer.
Liverpool have already made great strides in the transfer market, with Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz moving from Bayer Leverkusen for £29m and £116m respectively, following £1.5m goalkeeper Armin Pecsi’s move, while Milos Kerkez was officially announced as the club’s new left-back on Thursday.
“It’s a real honour for me to come to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, the biggest club in England,” Kerkez said.
They’re in the market for a striker and David Ornstein has told them what’s required to “start a conversation” with Newcastle over the transfer of top target Alexander Isak, while they’re also in need of at least one new centre-back after Jarell Quansah’s move to Bayer Leverkusen, and possibly two given ‘fears’ over Ibrahima Konate’s future amid a contract stalemate and interest from Real Madrid.
The centre-back – whose contract expires at the end of next season – was reportedly ‘disappointed’ with Liverpool’s extension offer.
Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore believes losing Konate wouldn’t be the end of the world and urged the Reds to consider preying on Aston Villa’s PSR problems to source a replacement.
Collymore wrote in his CaughtOffside column: “Ibrahima Konate is not what Virgil van Dijk or Mohamed Salah are to Liverpool in terms of importance. If they were to lose him, it would pinch a little bit. But that’s all it would do.
“I think there are better defenders around the world that Liverpool could unearth and will unearth. And if Konate doesn’t want to sign and commit to what is a very healthy Liverpool wage structure, then let him go.
“Would [Marc] Guehi be a like-for-like replacement? No. But the beauty with Guehi is that he comes in and he is a versatile option across the defence. And he’s also very much a player that is a very good club man. He’s going to be a solid 7/10 and play plenty of games all through the season. But I am surprised that a team like Liverpool aren’t looking at Ezri Konsa in this situation, given Aston Villa’s PSR woes.”
Self-professed ‘transfer insider’ Valentin Furlan claimed earlier this week that the Reds were close to agreeing personal terms with Crystal Palace’s Guehi and may even be able to land him in a cut-price deal.
He wrote on X: ‘Internal consensus at Crystal Palace the club might have to accept a £45M bid for Marc Guéhi, per me and @RudyGaletti. Palace no longer expects to pass the £60M mark, as previously stated, due to his contract situation. Liverpool near verbal agreement on personal, as told.’
But Football Insider revealed on Thursday that the 24-year-old has major ‘concerns’ over a move to Anfield – namely the fact that he would likely be behind Virgil van Dijk and Konate in the pecking order given they have formed a title-winning partnership.