Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has broken down why Liverpool and Ibrahima Konate have failed to reach an agreement over a new contract beyond this summer.<\/p>\n
At the start of the 2025\/26 campaign, Konate <\/a>entered the final year of his contract at Anfield and has been heavily linked with a move elsewhere in recent months.<\/p>\n Initially, he looked likely to follow Trent Alexander-Arnold in joining Real Madrid, but his poor form over the past year could cost him this move.<\/p>\n Instead, Konate signing a contract extension at Liverpool <\/a>has looked the most probable outcome in recent months, and he said last month that an \u201cagreement\u201d was \u201cclose\u201d.<\/p>\n However, multiple credible outlets are now reporting that he will leave Liverpool this summer, and Romano has now revealed \u201ctwo\u201d reasons why a deal \u201ccollapsed\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, Konat\u00e9 has still not decided on what\u2019s going to be his future but there is one guarantee today \u2013 for Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 and Liverpool, the story is over. The deal is off. Konat\u00e9 is going to leave Liverpool on a free transfer this summer,\u201d Romano said on his YouTube channel.<\/a><\/p>\n READ: Anthony Gordon to Barcelona could spark five transfer domino effect involving Liverpool and Arsenal<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a big story because, back in April, the agreement between Konat\u00e9 and Liverpool was very close. Only two things were missing. The length of the contract was okay, and the salary was okay. The issues were linked to the bonuses in his contract.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you negotiate important contracts with important players, you can include a bonus if you win the Premier League, a bonus if you win the Champions League, and all this sort of stuff. Then, it was also about how to activate some of the normal bonuses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe extra bonuses were about winning trophies, and the other regular bonuses were about the number of appearances or those sorts of things\u2014what they call \u2018easy\u2019 or \u2018difficult\u2019 bonuses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreement on these two points was never reached. Ibrahima was very confident; he even went to the press in April and said, \u2018We are close to signing a new contract.\u2019 When a player goes public like this, you know the agreement is almost done. And that was the case because, again, the salary structure and the length of the contract were ready, but then suddenly the deal went off.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no agreement on these final details. They took weeks and weeks negotiating, and now the deal has collapsed. So, Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 leaves Liverpool after five years at the club.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Liverpool \u2018pushing hard\u2019 to beat Man City to \u20ac150m deal as desperation hits peak level<\/a><\/p>\n