KONATÉ LEAVING LIVERPOOL! The REAL Reason Liverpool Let Him Walk Away

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]All right, guys. How's it going? So, this next video is going to be a bit of a long one and it's about Ibrahima Konaté.

[00:00:07]Um I do have some stuff to talk about on an an article from James Pearce on The Athletic, but there's also a thread over on X that I think is also worth touching on as well.

[00:00:18]Um as I say, it's probably going to be a long one, so if you don't have the stamina to stay around, then don't complain that it's a long video, do you know what I mean?

[00:00:26]If you like it, hit the like button. If you don't like it, dislike it. It don't make a difference. It's still an interaction on the video, so it still helps the channel either way. Um leave a comment, hype it, do all that good stuff. Let's get into it. So, the article is titled that Konaté's exit adds to a drain of experience from Liverpool, but the figures did not add up.

[00:00:52]He goes on to say, quoting Konaté here, "I know you want me." As he walked past reporters in the Anfield mixed zone following last Sunday's final game of the season, the French international did not break stride and questions over his future remained unanswered.

[00:01:08]Five days later and there was clarity.

[00:01:11]Konaté is leaving Liverpool.

[00:01:13]The 27-year-old will become the third member of the 24-25 season Premier League title winners to depart as a free agent this summer following Salah and Robo.

[00:01:25]Liverpool had wanted to keep Konaté and there's a sense of disappointment among senior club figures that an agreement over a new deal could not be reached.

[00:01:33]However, the gap between the financial package the player wanted and what Liverpool were prepared to offer proved unbridgeable.

[00:01:42]He earns around 150 grand a week and was seeking a significant increase that would have brought him into line with some of the club's highest earners.

[00:01:52]Konaté leaves having made 183 appearances across five seasons, blahdy blahdy blah.

[00:01:57]It has been a strange contract saga with the waters muddied by the downturn in Konate's form.

[00:02:03]Unlike the situation with Van Dijk and Salah last year, his erratic performances in the first half of the campaign contributed to the defensive vulnerability of Slot's malfunctioning team.

[00:02:18]Mhm.

[00:02:19]Konate has also had to deal with the death of his father in the new year, and he returned from compassionate leave earlier than expected to help the team amid an injury crisis.

[00:02:32]His performances improved, and he ended up starting 36 of 38 league matches this season. Less than 6 weeks ago, Konate told reporters that he was on brink of signing a new contract.

[00:02:43]And he's quoted here as saying, "For a long time, we've spoken with the club, and we are close to an agreement.

[00:02:50]This is what I always wanted. This club means so much to me."

[00:02:55]Konate even talked about taking on more responsibility following the exits of Salah and Robo.

[00:03:02]At the time, Liverpool's hierarchy was surprised by Konate's comments because there had been nothing in the protracted discussions up to that point which led them to believe he was about to commit his future.

[00:03:14]Where his convictions came from, that a compromise was about to be brokered, is unclear. However, if Konate thought that speaking so openly would stay would help him stay he was mistaken. With Liverpool still deeming his demands excessive, the impasse remained.

[00:03:35]Talks started in November of 2023.

[00:03:38]The latest set of accounts of the year ending May 2025 showed that Liverpool's annual wage bill was 428 million, which is the highest in the Premier League.

[00:03:47]Elite talent is handsomely rewarded, but they They not believe that Konate was worth what it would have cost to keep him and decided that their resources would be better elsewhere. Right, I'll stop there.

[00:03:59]I believe that, too.

[00:04:00]I don't believe that Konaté is worth 250 grand a week if that's what he was believed to have been after.

[00:04:05]However, you have just signed Cody Gakpo to a very similar deal.

[00:04:11]Is he worth that money?

[00:04:14]I'm just saying. And for me, the fact of the matter is is I know many people like I was doing something in my comments yesterday made a really good point about um a lot of clubs nowadays let players leave on a free transfer because not many clubs come by them for the valuation that they actually are, which is true. It is true. Like I you know, like hold my hands up.

[00:04:32]However, we already have a lot of stuff to do this summer.

[00:04:38]And I think leave letting Konaté leave would have is just going to make that worse for me.

[00:04:46]>> [snorts] >> Because now you definitely need another center back.

[00:04:49]100% need one. And it just makes the Marc Guehi situation look even more stupid.

[00:04:54]Do you know what I mean?

[00:04:55]You know, if we'd have got Marc Guehi in, it would have helped homegrown. It would have been a new center back.

[00:05:01]Wouldn't have had to worry. But now you're looking at a new center back.

[00:05:05]You're probably going to have to keep Joe Gomez now.

[00:05:09]You know, you need a probably new a right back, maybe another goalkeeper if you don't keep Freddie Woodman. If Mamadou Ashly goes on loan, you need a six. You need to probably another midfielder as well. And you need to probably three forwards.

[00:05:24]I don't know, guys. I don't know.

[00:05:31]It says here as well that Liverpool are already in contract talks with Szoboszlai and Jones' future remains uncertain.

[00:05:38]In filling the back line, Liverpool believe they have the two best young center backs in Europe competing for a place alongside Virgil.

[00:05:44]Jarell Quansah and Giovanni Leone are both back. Joe Gomez, the club's club's longest-serving player, is likely to stay for the final year of his contract.

[00:05:54]>> [snorts] >> Liverpool have bigger priorities than buying another center-back. Okay.

[00:05:58]They're expected to buy at least two attackers given that Salah's exit, Ekitike's Achilles, and Chiesa is also leaving.

[00:06:07]That's the thing though, like >> [snorts] >> we've been low in the forward line as is. Like, you've been playing Vertonghen as a winger.

[00:06:14]You've had to rely on a 17-year-old in Rio.

[00:06:18]Isak and Ekitike both been injured.

[00:06:21]Chiesa's leaving. So, as it stands right now, if we're taking that Chiesa's going, Liverpool's front line is basically Cody Gakpo, Rio, Isak, and an out-of- an out-of-the-season player who probably won't be fit until February next year, Ekitike. That is it.

[00:06:41]Are you telling me that Isak is going to last the entirety of next season?

[00:06:47]Not injured. Come on, guys. Come on.

[00:06:51]>> [snorts] >> Nah.

[00:06:55]So, we'll leave that article there for that for the moment, and I'll just jump over to this article here. You can all see that, can't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:07:01]>> [snorts] >> Right. So, he says, "For those asking why Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch were signed to contracts paying guaranteed wages north of 250k per week, bear in mind both players will have earned comfortable north of 200k per week including bonuses bonuses before renewals.

[00:07:19]When signing the new deals, they would have also received loyalty bonuses added into the contract.

[00:07:24]I suspect they were offered larger base contracts including the loyal bonuses, but reduced levels of performance-related bonuses, so the overall cost increase wouldn't be as significant as might believe.

[00:07:36]I also think that Gakpo was renewed because the club probably intended to sell him this summer for a larger fee and replace by one of those pacy wingers Slot craves until Ekitike suffered his injury.

[00:07:50]And I think that is basically it. That is all I wanted to show you there. So, there you go.

[00:07:57]I don't know, man.

[00:07:59]There's a lot wrong with the club right now in my opinion. I um I just I can't figure I can't figure out, guys.

[00:08:12]I don't know what I don't know where we go from here. Like, the World Cup is starting soon.

[00:08:17]We've still got Slot in place as manager.

[00:08:20]And he I'm I'm taking it that he's going to be a I'm legitimately just going to be yes, Slot's staying.

[00:08:25]Slot's staying.

[00:08:27]Um We haven't signed anybody. We've got no one going yet. Like, I don't know, man.

[00:08:35]It's just a bit of a show right now in my opinion.

[00:08:38]>> [snorts] >> We'll have to see what happens, I suppose, won't we? Anyway, let me know what you think about all of this down below, guys.

[00:08:46]Um let's see where we go from here, eh?

[00:08:48]Catch you in the next one.