1 week ago
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Liverpool did not end up losing Trent Alexander-Arnold on a free transfer, instead netting a surprisingly reasonable fee in order to release him in time for the Club World Cup. But he still departed for way below his true value, a situation the club will now hope to avoid with Ibrahima Konate.
Naturally, the ideal way to avoid this would be to commit Konate to a new contract at Anfield. He continues to deliver on the pitch for Arne Slot, and has all the attributes to truly lead the back line once Virgil van Dijk hangs up his boots.
But if an agreement looks impossible, Liverpool will have to decide if it is willing to once again run the risk of a free transfer, perhaps even with Real Madrid reprising its role as the meddlesome suitor. This time, there would be no Club World Cup to help recoup even a nominal sum.
In a sense, it is admirable that Liverpool repeatedly prioritizes its on-pitch needs. It held on to all three of Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah last summer despite the real risk of losing them all for nothing, and it declined a January payday for Darwin Nunez so as not to jeopardize the title push.
On the other hand, no amount of off-pitch commercial savvy can allow a club renowned for its sustainable model to continually let elite players leave for nothing — especially not players like Alexander-Arnold and Konate, with their peak years still to come. Taking a long-term view, Liverpool needs to find ways to maximize value when it finds itself in a corner over contract negotiations.
With this in mind, the club is said to have set a price for Konate. According to AS, Liverpool would be willing to sell the Frenchman this summer for $58 million (£43 million).
This seems like a fairly reasonable figure. Somewhere in that ballpark is the tipping point where it becomes more sensible to cash in and rebuild than squeeze out one extra season from the center-back.
The underlying question that Liverpool has to ask itself is this: how much is one season of Konate worth? That is effectively the equation when weighing up a sale this summer.
One complication is whether Liverpool considers it has any reasonable prospect of agreeing fresh terms with Konate over the course of the next 12 months. Any sale price now needs to factor in the lost opportunity to reach an agreement, as it managed to do with Salah and Van Dijk.
But even if it is has reached a fair figure, there's far from a guarantee that interested parties will meet it. As things stand, Real Madrid is the only option on the table, and it doesn't want to go any higher than $29 million (£22 million).
As a result, signs do currently point toward an Alexander-Arnold repeat. Liverpool's best hope to cash in would be the emergence of another suitor, one whom Konate would also be willing to join.
Setting a clear asking price might at least tempt some other giants into weighing up the possibility. PSG has long been linked with the Parisian-born talent, and may sense an opportunity to jump the queue by acting now.
It would also have a reasonable chance of turning Konate's head, one would imagine. There's an element of going back home, while also joining the reigning Champions League holder.
But the "problem" for Liverpool, so to speak, is that there are precious few other clubs who could even conceivably be considered an upgrade for Konate. He may well decide that if he can't move to Real Madrid this summer, he doesn't want to go anywhere — leaving the Reds with no hope of cashing in, except on Los Blancos' terms.
It's a familiar issue once Real Madrid takes an interest. Liverpool will just hope it does not have a familiar ending.
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