RB Leipzig are working on a new contract for defender Ibrahima Konaté to scupper Liverpool’s efforts to sign the Frenchman.
That’s according to Kicker, who say the German club want the centre-back’s future ‘clarified’ by the end of this month.
The newspaper explains that this week has been a busy one at the German club, with them finalising important contract renewals for Emil Forsberg, Peter Gulacsi and Willi Orban.
They have now turned their attention to Konaté, who is tied down to a deal until 2023 but has a release clause of around €40m.
Indeed, the latest reports have suggested he is edging ever close to the move to Anfield, but it seems Leipzig are working to stop that.
Kicker explain that Leipzig are ‘seeking a contract extension’ similar to what they’ve done for Gulacsi, in which they increased his salary and removed the release clause in the process.
They want a similar deal for Konaté so they can keep him at the club this summer and ward off the interest from Liverpool in the process.
They’ve set a deadline for the end of the month to sort it either way, so it seems after months of speculation, we’ll know what’s happening with Konaté sooner rather than later.
