{"id":480920,"date":"2026-06-03T12:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/480920\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T12:39:11","slug":"konate-was-open-to-joining-man-utd-before-real-madrid-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/480920\/","title":{"rendered":"Konate was open to joining Man Utd before Real Madrid agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ibrahima Konate seems set to join Real Madrid<\/a> on a free transfer upon the expiry of his contract at Liverpool, but he\u2019d apparently been open to linking up with two of the Reds\u2019 fiercest domestic rivals.<\/p>\n

The defender had hinted after the Merseyside derby<\/a> in mid-April that he was \u2018close to an agreement\u2019 at Anfield, but ultimately the relevant parties weren\u2019t able to agree on terms over a new deal for the 27-year-old.<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES \u2013 STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON\u00a0APPLE<\/a>\u00a0&\u00a0GOOGLE PLAY<\/a><\/p>\n

He now looks destined to reunite with Trent Alexander-Arnold at the Bernabeu a year after the England right-back made a similar move, and one transfer insider has revealed just how drastically the situation changed over the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

Konate had been open to joining Chelsea or Man United<\/p>\n

Mark Brus reported for\u00a0the Daily Briefing<\/a> that Konate hadn\u2019t ruled out the possibility of signing for either Chelsea or Manchester United before striking a \u2018verbal agreement\u2019 with Real Madrid, with his agents seemingly reaching out to other clubs even when he appeared likely to stay at Liverpool.<\/p>\n

One source told the reporter: \u201cThe Konate situation has been pretty crazy. About a month ago it looked like he was engaging really positively with the idea of staying and signing a new deal with Liverpool. Real Madrid seemed to be out of the picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, it seems his agents were keeping contacts alive, and that\u2019s now led to a verbal agreement with Real Madrid. He was also open to Chelsea, Man United and Bayern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a\u00a0preferred source on Google<\/a>\u00a0to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n

The manner of Konate\u2019s exit will sting for Liverpool fans<\/p>\n

The thought that Konate\u2019s agents may have been sounding out a potential free transfer to Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford whilst he was publicly indicating a likely stay at Liverpool must be nauseating for Kopites, who\u2019ve now seen yet another first-team regular depart on a free transfer.<\/p>\n

Whereas Mo Salah and Andy Robertson both declared in advance that they\u2019d be leaving this summer, thus ensuring them a rousing farewell at Anfield in our final game of the season, the Frenchman teased the possibility of staying put before contract negotiations hit a fateful impasse.<\/p>\n

The frustration for LFC is compounded by the loss of the 27-year-old in the peak years of his career, when the club should be able to reap a sizeable fee for an experienced defender who\u2019s won the Premier League and is proven at an elite level.<\/p>\n

Just think of how much it\u2019d cost Liverpool to sign a player of similar experience and age profile who\u2019d won major trophies and was playing for one of the foremost national teams in world football.<\/p>\n

Alas, the Merseyside club will need to move on without Konate and ensure that impending new head coach Andoni Iraola is adequately stocked in every position throughout the squad by the time the summer transfer window shuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ibrahima Konate seems set to join Real Madrid on a free transfer upon the expiry of his contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-480920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}