Watch out, Real Madrid! European giants join race for Ibrahima Konate and make contact with Liverpool star's agent

Konate's deal with the Premier League Champions expires in June 2026. He is allowed to negotiate a switch to a European side from January.

German outlet Bild reports that the 34-time German champions have been in contact with the player's representation, with a view to bringing him back to the Bundesliga. Konate made his reputation during a four-year spell at Leipzig, before completing a £36m switch to Merseyside in 2021.

Upamecano's similar contract situation with Bayern could be the impetus for the switch. The France international has been a near ever-present for the Bavarian giants since joining from Leipzig in the same summer that Konate left for England.

Los Blancos will be watching both contract sagas with a keen eye. They had been rumoured to be pursuing Konate since the summer, but a Fabrizio Romano report has now suggested they are intent on making Upamecano the latest player to move to the Spanish capital on a free transfer.

The brewing Konate saga is a familiar story to Liverpool fans. Much of the 2024/25 run-in was dominated by discussions over the futures of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

While their record Premier League goalscorer and club captain decided to stay at Anfield, Alexander-Arnold eventually moved to the Spanish capital for a fee of €10m. The nominal fee was agreed to allow the right back to be released from his contract early to play in the Club World Cup, after he had already agreed personal terms with Los Blancos.

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Konate, who has played 147 games for the Reds, has been singled out for criticism at times this season, particularly after the 2-1 defeat away at Crystal Palace which started Liverpool's run of five straight defeats in all competitions. Suggestions that concerns over his future have led to poor performances have been quickly rubbished by his manager, Arne Slot however. The Dutchman defended his player back in October following his side's loss to Galatasaray saying it's not just the Frenchman that was found lacking.

"If you are losing a game of football, it doesn’t help if you lose the ball a few times very easily," Slot said. "Ibou has been one of them, but definitely not the only one. Against Galatasaray, apart from the penalty, maybe they got three or four other moments, all from us losing simple balls without any pressure, which happened to him once in the Palace game and once against Galatasaray.

"If you lose there is so much focus on that moment and, all of a sudden, 90 minutes have been very poor. That’s not the way I analyse a game when I watch it back. I see what we did well and what we did wrong. In the last two games, it has been obvious and clear we have made a few errors, not only him, but also others we are not used to. If you do things that people are not used to then normally the manager gets criticised."

Liverpool's willingness to allow another player's contract to run down will inevitably draw questions from the fan base. Now with two of Europe's most vaunted sides sniffing around the player, the idea the Reds can re-sign Van Dijk's partner of the past few seasons look increasingly slim. With the decision to let Jarell Quansah leave for Leverkusen in the summer, Joe Gomez clearly a distant third option in the centre of defence and their pursuit of Marc Guehi failing to materialise in a move, Konate's dwindling contract is not just a distraction for the Reds, it presents a serious problem for the makeup of their squad going forward.

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