Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 has said he is close to agreeing a new contract with \u00adLiverpool, having informed the club he wanted to stay during negotiations last year.<\/p>\n
The France international\u2019s deal expires this summer and, with talks over an extension dragging on for over 12 months, Liverpool have been at risk of losing another asset on a free transfer alongside Mohamed Salah<\/a> and Andy Robertson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Konat\u00e9 has attempted to allay those concerns, however, and claimed he is close to extending his successful five-year Anfield career. Speaking after Liverpool\u2019s dramatic late win in the Merseyside derby<\/a>, the defender said: \u201cMy future? There are many things people have said but for a long time we have spoken with the club and we are close to an agreement. I think everyone wished for that for as long as possible but we are in a good way.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a big chance I\u2019m here next season. This is what I always wanted. I\u2019m waiting to sort the contract but when everything is sorted you will have to ask Richard [Hughes, \u00adLiverpool\u2019s sporting director] what I said to him in September, November and he\u2019s going to say something to make everyone quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n Konat\u00e9 insisted he had no concerns over the time it has taken to sort a new contract. \u201cThis is negotiation,\u201d he said. \u201cWith Virgil [van Dijk] and Mo [Salah] last season it was exactly the same. I think they signed the contract in April and this is maybe how the club want it.\u201d<\/p>\n The 26-year-old has endured a difficult season off and on the pitch, with losing his father in January and his form inconsistent. Konat\u00e9 returned early from compassionate leave to help Liverpool out of a defensive shortage against Newcastle and scored his first Premier League goal at Anfield in the 4-1 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n Konat\u00e9 said: \u201cIt was a tough year because many things happened. I think if everyone knew exactly what happened to me they could understand many things, which kind of sacrifices I\u2019ve done for this club. I think it is great. One day I will take the time to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight now I am focused on the end of the season and making sure we are qualified for the Champions League next season. After, we take the time to talk about this season because it\u2019s going to be a big part of my story. It\u2019s sad in one part, but it\u2019s very nice for my story when I explain that to my future kids and the people who support this club.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 has said he is close to agreeing a new contract with \u00adLiverpool, having informed the club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-541474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}