Konate 'on upward ascent again'

[BBC]

[Getty Images]

"We bring new players, we will adapt, we will try to understand each other and at a point, with time, we will win a trophy."

From the moment Ibrahima Konate said this about Liverpool's situation while away on international duty with France, it seemed likely that he would sign a new deal to stay at the club.

Yes, most clubs don't leave it this late to tie down their starters, but contracts have become a particularly complex sideshow over the past few years at Anfield.

Just look at the differing situations of Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and even Trent Alexander-Arnold across the past few years, all borne to some extent out of the transition that Liverpool's ownership found itself in when Jürgen Klopp announced he would leave the club and they looked to rehire Michael Edwards alongside Richard Hughes to help Arne Slot.

Now, they're working on a backlog, while players and their agents have no doubt tried to exploit the time pressure that has been cranked up.

This is how it always felt with Konate, a player who individually had a pretty disappointing 2025, while he was surrounded by the increasingly public contract discourse.

His management would have surely driven a percentage of that, as Liverpool fans had to face another of their players publicly flirting with the idea of moving to .