Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 has seen his reputation suffer markedly over the past year. Once the subject of strong interest from Real Madrid, who were reportedly set to replicate the Trent Alexander-Arnold trick by signing the Liverpool defender on a free transfer next summer when his contract expires, Madrid have now pulled out of the race.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old\u2019s recent form has been described as largely dismal, with only a smattering of competent displays. Amid Liverpool\u2019s ongoing disaster this season, he has been identified among those most culpable. Transfer talk appears to have distracted him and his future at Anfield is uncertain.<\/p>\n
Two destinations emerge as the most likely options given the facts publicly reported.<\/p>\n
Bayern Munich remain a plausible suitor. The Bundesliga champions have already taken Luis D\u00edaz from Liverpool and that summer signing has settled in well in Bavaria. Bayern were tentatively linked with Konat\u00e9 while Real Madrid showed interest. The attraction of acquiring a centre back approaching his peak years on a free transfer would be obvious. Whether Bayern need another central defender is debatable. Their current options include Dayot Upamecano, Hiroki Ito, Jonathan Tah and Kim Min-jae, while Josip Stani\u0161i\u0107 can operate in the position. Upamecano has been linked with a Bayern exit amid interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Madrid, a development that could intensify Bayern\u2019s focus on Konat\u00e9 if the French centre back departs.<\/p>\n
A return to France also makes sense. Paris-born Konat\u00e9 has been linked with Paris Saint-Germain, the club that would be unlikely to struggle with any salary demands. He spent time in his youth with Paris FC and brings Champions League, Premier League and major international experience. PSG are well stocked at centre back after signing Illia Zabarnyi from Bournemouth for just under \u00a355 million ($72.8 million) last summer alongside Marquinhos, Willian Pacho, Lucas Hern\u00e1ndez and Lucas Beraldo. Whether Luis Enrique\u2019s squad needs another centre back is uncertain, but PSG appear the most probable suitor if Konat\u00e9 leaves Liverpool.<\/p>\n
For now Konat\u00e9 remains under contract and the coming months will determine whether either Bayern or PSG move to capitalize on a situation that began with Real Madrid\u2019s withdrawal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Real Madrid have reportedly withdrawn interest in Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 while Bayern and PSG circle soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1062,175,1031,1163],"tags":[983,1032,986],"class_list":["post-4749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bayern-munich","category-liverpool","category-paris-saint-germain","category-transfers","tag-agents","tag-contract-disputes","tag-contract-standoff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4749","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=4749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}