Liverpool is working hard behind the scenes on the arrival of RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konaté. According to The Athletic the deal is in the closing phase. When everything goes according to plan, the 21-year-old French youth international will join manager Jürgen Klopp’s team next summer. However, there are more hijackers on the coast for Konaté, who can be collected from the number two of the Bundesliga for a lump sum of forty million euros.
Liverpool wants to strengthen itself defensively. After the loss of the badly injured Virgil van Dijk, Klopp’s team faced several defensive problems. With a view to the new season, the priority is the Reds on attracting a defender and that’s how Konaté came into the picture. The right-footed French man was trained at Sochaux and made the switch to RB Leipzig at a young age. He broke through there as a young talent in the main squad and came to fourteen basic places in the Bundesliga in the 2017/18 season.
This season he had little time to play on behalf of Leipzig so far. With four basic places in the league, he is going through a disappointing season. Partly due to injuries, he was largely sidelined this year. Konaté is currently active with Young France at the European Under-21 Championship in Hungary. In the first group match against Russia (2-1 win), he formed the center of the rearguard with Sevilla defender Jules Koundé. With a through Transfer market estimated market value of 35 million euros, he is one of the most expensive players in the final tournament.
The most valuable players at the European Under-21 Championship according to Transfermarkt
Ibrahima Konaté is one of the players with the highest market value at the European Under-21 Championship.
Leipzig is in no hurry to sell Konaté. After all, the defender is fixed until the summer of 2023. Therefore, it is expected that negotiating the transfer fee will make no sense and Liverpool will have to meet the asking price of forty million. Should it come to a deal, Konaté will be the second center-back to leave Leipzig after this season. It was previously announced that Dayot Upamcano was sold to Bayern Munich for 42.5 million euros. With Josko Gvardiol (Dinamo Zagreb) and Mohamed Simakan (Strasbourg), Leipzig has already attracted two new center-backs for the coming season.
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