In the past week or so, Liverpool have been heavily linked with Ibrahima Konate and reports have suggested that the Reds are close to hiring his services for next season.
More recently, the news has been confirmed by a Christian Falk, who is the Head of Football of famous German source Bild/SportBild.
News – Liverpool ready to bid to finally sign £63,000-a-week Serie A star – Report
The renowned journalist told Bild that Liverpool have moved into the final stages of the transfer and should be able to get his signing done.
Falk further addressed the valuation of the player and said that the rumored fee of 40 million euros is too high and the player would cost as low as 32.5 million euros i.e. £28million.
“The nice news is they haveve always talked about €40m plus, but he’s supposed to cost, according to our information, the fee is €32.5m – €34m.”
“That means in these times, every million that’s cheaper makes the transfer easier”
Even Man United are interested in securing the signature of Konate (Euro Sport). So, I understand that £28million price tag is not so high for a wanted player, who will turn 22 next month.
However, Liverpool should really examine his injury record and fitness issues before opting to finally seal his signing.
Last season, muscle concerns kept him out of the squad and he only managed to start 9 games in all competitions for RB Leipzig. This season, ankle concerns have mainly troubled him and so far, he has only stared 10 games in all competitions under the guidance of Julian Nagelsmann.
Taking into consideration that injuries to the club’s senior center halves have completely derailed Klopp’s title defense this term, the German manager should really avoid signing an injury prone central defender like Ibrahim Konate for next season. What do you think?
