Real Madrid are reportedly hopeful of signing Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate when he becomes a free agent in summer 2026.
The Spanish giants have just snapped up Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool as he ran down his contract at Anfield, though in the end he didn’t actually move on a free.
Madrid brought Alexander-Arnold in early so paid a small fee in order to be able to register him for this summer’s Club World Cup.
Much of the deal had already been agreed, however, so the England international would most likely have made the move to the Bernabeu once he officially became a free agent anyway.
And now Real want to repeat the trick as they apparently target Konate from the Reds, according to Marca.
Real could do with planning for the future in defence as Antonio Rudiger isn’t getting any younger, while Eder Militao has had some injury problems.
Konate could therefore make perfect sense for Los Blancos, as he’s shone for Liverpool and seems like he might soon be available.
Interestingly, it may now be that Konate is Madrid’s preferred target in defence over Arsenal’s William Saliba.
Fabrizio Romano recently reported for CaughtOffside that Saliba was still on Real’s radar even after the signing of Dean Huijsen in that position this summer.
Konate has been a key player in Liverpool’s defence, and he’ll surely have an important role to play in the future as Virgil van Dijk can’t go on forever.
LFC only recently tied the experienced Dutchman down to a new deal, but he’s surely now past his peak, meaning Konate will eventually be the one to build around at the back.
Liverpool fans will now just have to hope the club can do its best to keep hold of Konate and give him a new contract as soon as possible.