Ibrahima Konate will seek to be among Liverpool’s top earners as his agents negotiate a new contract, with demands of over double his current wage.
Beyond the trio of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool have a number of other contracts to sort out.
Chief among those is Konate’s, with the Frenchman’s current deal set to expire in 2026, meaning he will only have 12 months remaining when pre-season starts this summer.
Given the cloud that uncertainty over Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold’s futures has cast over this title campaign, Liverpool can ill afford to head into next season with a similar situation playing out again.
But their talks with Konate’s camp have clearly not been straightforward, not least due to the centre-back’s desired wage.
According to the Times, Konate is seeking a two-and-a-half-times increase on his existing salary of £80,000 a week to earn around £200,000 per week on a new contract.
That would place him just below the current bracket of Liverpool’s highest earners, with Salah, Van Dijk and Alisson believed to be paid upwards of £200,000 a week at present.
While that may reflect Konate’s importance to the side now and into the future, it goes some way to explain why no resolution has been forthcoming after talks opened in October.
Despite his difficult afternoon at Craven Cottage as Liverpool slumped to only a second defeat of the Premier League campaign with a 3-2 loss at Fulham, Konate is undoubtedly one of Arne Slot‘s most valued players.
He has the potential to become one of the best centre-backs in the world and already performs at a consistently high standard at 25.
Liverpool’s contract conundrum
But Liverpool will be weighing up whether they can sanction such a pay increase for a player who will turn 26 in May and could feasibly seek another wage rise beyond this proposed extension before his time at Anfield is up.
Any such agreement could also have bearing on negotiations with others, with Conor Bradley among those also in line for a new deal.
By the same token, the likes of Konate and Bradley will surely be waiting to learn the verdict on Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold’s futures at the club before they put pen to paper on their own contracts.
Konate will be eager to prolong his partnership with Van Dijk, while Bradley could seek assurances over the role he will play whether or not Alexander-Arnold leaves for Real Madrid.
