Ibrahima Konate will leave Liverpool on a free transfer when his contract expires next month after a breakdown in talks about a new deal.
The France international, who said last month that he was “close” to an agreement about a contract extension, will instead follow Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson in moving on this summer.
Liverpool had hoped to keep Konate but eventually concluded there was an unbridgeable gap between his salary demands and what they were willing to pay.
Talks with the centre-back had begun in November 2023 and continued over the subsequent two-and-a-half years, with Liverpool offering him a significant pay rise.
While Liverpool had the highest wage bill in the Premier League last season and have shown themselves willing to give large contracts to Virgil van Dijk, Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Salah in the last 15 months, they decided to allocate their resources elsewhere rather than meet Konate’s requests.
A younger French defender, Jeremy Jacquet, will arrive in the summer after his £55m move from Rennes was arranged in January, while the Italian Giovanni Leoni joined last year, only to sustain a cruciate ligament injury on his debut.
But Liverpool believe they have two of the best young centre-backs in world football, along with Van Dijk, who will turn 35 this summer, and Joe Gomez, their longest-serving player.
Konate made 183 appearances in seven years at Anfield after his £36m move from RB Leipzig. He started 36 league games this season and 30 last as he was a regular under Arne Slot.
