Paul Merson has transfer theory about Liverpool and Ibrahima Konate

Liverpool ultimately failed with an attempt to sign Marc Guehi as the England international ended up joining Manchester City during the January transfer window

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate(Image: 2026 Getty Images)

Paul Merson believes that Liverpool's trust in Ibrahima Konate was proven by the club's reluctance to get into any kind of bidding war with Manchester City for Marc Guehi.

Liverpool came close to signing Guehi from Crystal Palace last summer, only for Palace to U-turn on the deal at the 11th hour.

The England international remained with Palace for the first half of the season, before moving to City in the January transfer window, despite Liverpool remaining an admirer of the 25-year-old.

Palace opted to sell Guehi to avoid losing him on a free transfer upon the expiry of his contract at the end of the season, and he is now among City's most highly paid players.

Despite Konate himself being out of contract at Liverpool at the end of the season – and there being no guarantee that he will still be at the club next term – Merson believes Liverpool's faith in him was demonstrated by the Reds not resuming their pursuit of Guehi last month.

“Ibrahima Konate and Mohamed Salah starting to look like their old selves has helped Liverpool," Merson said in his Sportskeeda column as he assessed Liverpool's recent improved form.

“You don’t play for Liverpool if you’re not a good defender, so Konate must have the trust of everyone at the club. Otherwise, Liverpool would have gone all in for Guehi.”

Merson also gave his prediction for Liverpool's trip to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League this weekend, saying that he expects Liverpool to win comfortably.

Merson spoke about Konate and also gave his score prediction for Liverpool's trip to Forest(Image: Getty Images)

The Reds have won four of their last five games in all competitions, while relegation-threatened Forest has just moved onto its fourth manager of the season following the club's recent decision to fire Sean Dyche.

“This is a humungous game at both ends of the table," Merson said, as he predicted a 2-0 win for Liverpool. "Vitor Pereira has taken over from Sean Dyche at Nottingham Forest, and he’ll be under pressure.

“Forest have to start winning games, draws won’t be enough from now on. Before this clash against Liverpool, they have to travel to Fenerbahce for their Europa League game. That could take a toll on them.

“I think Forest have a good chance of staying up because they have decent fixtures coming up. But they must look to get a result against Liverpool this weekend to set the tone for it.

“The Liverpool line-up looks quite settled now. Few weeks ago, we had no idea who would be in the starting XI. But now, at least nine players are nailed on and that has made a difference to them. I expect a comfortable win.”