Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 and Liverpool remain locked in delicate negotiations over a contract extension that have yet to move close to resolution. Talks have centred on salary, with the French defender believed to be earning significantly more than the widely reported figure of \u00a370,000 ($94,000). Indeed, his real earnings are believed to be more than double that amount. That pay gap is central to the difficulty in talks, with Konat\u00e9 seeking a rise that would place him alongside Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk among the club\u2019s highest earners.<\/p>\n
David Ornstein reports that the Frenchman has not yet formally turned down a new contract. Hope of an agreement has not been abandoned, but both sides are understood to be in a stalemate as Konat\u00e9 approaches the final six months of his deal, leaving Liverpool vulnerable to outside approaches. Madrid are free to hold formal negotiations with Konat\u00e9 as early as January, having already established their desire to get a deal done behind the scenes. That being said, it was recently reported that Madrid\u2019s decision-makers are not all in agreement when it comes to a move for Konat\u00e9, with some inside the club believing he is not the right target. By contrast, everyone involved believed signing Alexander-Arnold was a no-brainer last season.<\/p>\n
On the field, Konat\u00e9\u2019s early form has left a lot to be desired and has attracted plenty of frustration from Liverpool fans. Manager Arne Slot was quick to remind supporters that the Frenchman is far from the only player to have fallen short of expectations this year. For now, negotiations will continue amid competing interests: Liverpool balancing squad continuity and wage structure, Konat\u00e9 seeking a significant pay increase, and external clubs monitoring a contract that could be resolved or reassessed when January arrives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Konat\u00e9’s contract talks with Liverpool stall over pay; Madrid monitor as January approaches closely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,987],"tags":[299,1032,986],"class_list":["post-3527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-real-madrid","tag-arne-slot","tag-contract-disputes","tag-contract-standoff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527","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=3527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}