Liverpool are not exploring a deal for RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konaté at present because they would prefer to sign Ozan Kabak permanently for a lower price.
That’s according to BILD, who state that despite reports in England stating a move for Konaté was incoming, that is not the case.
According to their information, ‘nothing has been decided yet’, and neither Liverpool nor the player’s advisors have ‘informed’ Leipzig about any potential move.
However, given that Konaté has a release clause in his contract, the Reds would not be required to do so anyway.
The chances of them activating that clause seem unlikely, though, as Jürgen Klopp’s side want to activate the purchase clause they have for Ozan Kabak instead.
He joined on loan from Schalke in January and can be signed permanently for €30m – FussballTransfers say it is €20m – and that would be ‘doubly practical’ for Liverpool.
BILD explain that Kabak is ‘one of the greatest defensive talents’ in Europe, like Konaté, but crucially is already a part of the squad and doesn’t need to get accustomed to Liverpool’s system.
That is one reason, but the ‘financial aspect’ is ‘much more decisive’ as Liverpool would have to pay €10m less for Kabak and that is a sum the Premier League champions would like to’ save’ having seen losses of €140m due to the Coronavirus this season.
Those losses mean ‘every additional Euro would hurt’ in possible transfers, and so getting the defender they need for less would be a welcome solution.
Thus Kabak seems to be first choice at this moment in time, although there is plenty of time for that to change.
