€52.5m defender ‘dreaming of joining’ Liverpool to replace Ibrahima Konate – report
Borussia Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck has told Florian Wirtz that he wants to join the Liverpool star at Anfield, according to a report.
Ibrahima Konate is leaving Liverpool this summer after talks over a new contract collapsed.
Konate publicly said in April that he was close to signing a new deal with Liverpool and extending his stay at Anfield.
However, the France international defender is now set to leave Liverpool as a free agent when his contract runs out this summer.
It has now emerged that Nico Schlotterbeck is ready to join Liverpool after the 2026 World Cup finals this summer and replace Konate.
Schlotterbeck recently signed a new contract with Borussia Dortmund, but there is a release clause that allows the Germany international central defender that can be triggered by a select number of clubs, including Liverpool.
READ: FSG sanction five Liverpool transfers with Reds ‘comfortable’ over Konate exit
Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg wrote on X at 4:50pm on April 14: “Now confirmed, as revealed yesterday on our show Transfer Update: Liverpool (alongside Real Madrid) are also one of the few clubs that can activate a release clause for Nico Schlotterbeck this summer.
“The fee is around €50-60 million. #LFC The release clause is not valid for the entire summer transfer window. According to @M_Wessing, it expires around the time of the World Cup final (19 July). @SkySportDE”
Nico Schlotterbeck wants to join Liverpool
Space | ™ has reported on X that Schlotterbeck has told Liverpool attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz during the Germany camp that he dreams of joining him at Anfield.
The account, which has 16,000 followers on X, posted at 1:55pm on May 29: “Nico Schlotterbeck has informed Florian Wirtz in recent hours during Germany national team duty that he is dreaming of joining one of the last truly sacred names in football, an institution where the line between football and mythology begins to blur, Liverpool Football Club, and has already gone as far as instructing his agent, Björn Etzel, to begin positioning him for a potential move after the World Cup.
“This comes despite the defender having signed a new Borussia Dortmund contract only a few months ago and, as exclusively revealed by me as the first journalist, that renewal included a €52.5 million (£45 million) release clause restricted to only a very small circle of clubs, with Liverpool, the great crimson kingdom of Merseyside, where Anfield glows beneath the northern sky, where the immortal roar of the Kop has carried generations of dreams across Europe’s grandest nights, and where history is not remembered but lived, breathed and passed from one generation to the next, included among that exclusive group, with the clause, as previously revealed by me, already active and capable of being triggered during the current transfer window.
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“However, no formal move has yet been initiated by Liverpool’s senior sporting leadership, meaning the situation remains dependent on how the club chooses to reshape its defensive department following the imminent departure of Ibrahima Konaté…”
The account continued: “Although what I can reveal is that Nico Schlotterbeck would leave Dortmund without a second thought for the opportunity to wear Liverpool colours, because the prospect of walking beneath the Anfield floodlights to the original sound of You’ll Never Walk Alone, the anthem Liverpool transformed into a global symbol decades before Borussia Dortmund imported it in an attempt to manufacture the same aura, of becoming part of a football institution that transcends the boundaries of sport and stands among the most revered and romanticised names the game has ever produced, is viewed by the German international not merely as an attractive transfer, but as the fulfilment of a career-defining dream.”
Schlotterbeck, though, has publicly played down suggestions that he plans to use the 2026 World Cup finals to enhance his reputation and move to a club bigger than Dortmund.
The Dortmund star told Bild, as relayed by Buli News: “What do you mean by shop window? I play 50 games a year.
“I think it’s completely normal that I always try to play well.
“To put yourself on display because of a World Cup – I don’t see it that way.
“Of course, I’m clearly focused on the World Cup, trying to play good matches there with Germany.
“So I don’t have the idea of playing extra well because of any contract.”
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