Real Madrid officials are reportedly split over a prospective move for Liverpool centre back Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 next summer. After Arsenal\u2019s William Saliba was removed from the club\u2019s wish list following a new contract, Madrid appeared to focus on Konat\u00e9, but ESPN state the situation is not straightforward.<\/p>\n
Within the club there are contrasting views. Some decision makers consider signing Konat\u00e9 on a free transfer at the end of the season a clear opportunity. Others have yet to give their approval and remain unconvinced. Those responsible for such decisions all agreed that signing Trent Alexander-Arnold for free was the right call, but those negotiations remain ongoing over Konat\u00e9, who is free to hold talks with clubs overseas as early as January.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid are drawing up alternatives in case they cannot secure Konat\u00e9. One option being examined is Dayot Upamecano, the former RB Leipzig teammate of Konat\u00e9. Both players would be available on free transfers when their contracts expire. Another name mentioned is 22-year-old Castello Lukeba, who joined Leipzig in the summer of 2023; Madrid view him as a more costly option.<\/p>\n
Media reports add further complexity. BILD predict a potential transfer battle between Real Madrid and Liverpool for Upamecano, naming the Reds as suitors of the 26-year-old as they prepare to replace Konat\u00e9. It is also suggested that Bayern could target Konat\u00e9 as their own replacement for Upamecano. These scenarios could leave Madrid without either player ahead of a transfer window that may also see departures, as David Alaba and Antonio R\u00fcdiger approach the ends of their contracts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Madrid split over free signing of Ibrahima Konat\u00e9; Upamecano and Lukeba are alternatives in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,987],"tags":[983,1032,986],"class_list":["post-3108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-real-madrid","tag-agents","tag-contract-disputes","tag-contract-standoff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}