Liverpool are in the pursuit of RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate but with each passing day, this transfer seems to grow even more confusing.
Klopp has reportedly been tracking the centre-back for some time now and last week there were reports that Liverpool have agreed on a deal to sign the 21-year-old defender during the summer transfer window.
On Sunday, a report by The Athletic had claimed that the Premier League side are in advanced talks with the German club and they are confident of signing Ibrahima Konate pretty soon.
If this was not enough then RMC Sport have now gone one step further to suggest that Konate has already passed a medical with the Reds.
However, all these reports are in total contrast to Leipzig sporting director Markus Krosche’s comment that selling Konate is “not an option” and the player still has two years left on his current deal at the club.
Now, keeping in line with Krosche’s comments, Sky Germany have claimed that Liverpool are yet to make any concrete offer for Ibrahima Konate but there’s a big chance the defender will move out in the summer.
The report claims: “There is interest in another RB defender from Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp is said to have Ibrahima Konate on his wish list.
“According to Sky Infos, there is still no concrete offer. Nevertheless, the 21-year-old Frenchman is dissatisfied with the current situation in Leipzig, as he often had to sit on the bench. A summer change is therefore quite conceivable. His contract has a release clause of 40 million euros.”
Will Ibrahima Konate join Liverpool?
Klopp wants to sign Ibrahima Konate as the long-term replacement to the injury-prone Joel Matip and given the youngster has played only nine games with Leipzig this season, there’s a massive chance Liverpool will get their man.
But we don’t think, the deal is not close to finalization yet, especially with Liverpool still trying to figure out the future of some of their first-team players.
Klopp has defenders like Van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez at his disposal and the club even signed Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak in January. So, as things stand, the manager has too many centre-backs in his first-team squad meaning he will have to sell off some of them before he can convince Ibrahima Konate to join in.
