Liverpool: Romano reveals Konate deal ‘collapsed’ for ‘two’ reasons; issues Real Madrid update
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has broken down why Liverpool and Ibrahima Konate have failed to reach an agreement over a new contract beyond this summer.
At the start of the 2025/26 campaign, Konate entered the final year of his contract at Anfield and has been heavily linked with a move elsewhere in recent months.
Initially, he looked likely to follow Trent Alexander-Arnold in joining Real Madrid, but his poor form over the past year could cost him this move.
Instead, Konate signing a contract extension at Liverpool has looked the most probable outcome in recent months, and he said last month that an “agreement” was “close”.
However, multiple credible outlets are now reporting that he will leave Liverpool this summer, and Romano has now revealed “two” reasons why a deal “collapsed”.
“At the moment, Konaté has still not decided on what’s going to be his future but there is one guarantee today – for Ibrahima Konaté and Liverpool, the story is over. The deal is off. Konaté is going to leave Liverpool on a free transfer this summer,” Romano said on his YouTube channel.
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“That’s a big story because, back in April, the agreement between Konaté and Liverpool was very close. Only two things were missing. The length of the contract was okay, and the salary was okay. The issues were linked to the bonuses in his contract.
“When you negotiate important contracts with important players, you can include a bonus if you win the Premier League, a bonus if you win the Champions League, and all this sort of stuff. Then, it was also about how to activate some of the normal bonuses.
“The extra bonuses were about winning trophies, and the other regular bonuses were about the number of appearances or those sorts of things—what they call ‘easy’ or ‘difficult’ bonuses.
“The agreement on these two points was never reached. Ibrahima was very confident; he even went to the press in April and said, ‘We are close to signing a new contract.’ When a player goes public like this, you know the agreement is almost done. And that was the case because, again, the salary structure and the length of the contract were ready, but then suddenly the deal went off.
“There was no agreement on these final details. They took weeks and weeks negotiating, and now the deal has collapsed. So, Ibrahima Konaté leaves Liverpool after five years at the club.”
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As mentioned, Real Madrid have been mooted as a possible destination for Konate, though Chelsea have reportedly made an ‘enquiry’ for him in recent days, and he has also been linked with other European giants.
Fabrizio Romano drops Ibrahima Konate to Real Madrid update
Now, Romano has revealed a recent “message” from Real Madrid regarding Konate, with a move to the Spanish giants not completely ruled out.
“Let’s see where he goes because there was strong interest from Real Madrid until a few months ago. Then, Real Madrid decided not to go for Konaté around January or February because they wanted to respect Liverpool and didn’t want to break their relationship with the club.
“Real Madrid informed Liverpool they were not going to do another free transfer deal from Liverpool after Trent Alexander-Arnold in 2025—that was the message.
“But now Ibrahima Konaté is free, so we have to see if Real Madrid decide to return for him or not. There are other clubs interested in Ibrahima Konaté, and now he will start exploring the market. For sure, it’s a really interesting situation to follow.”
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