Liverpool to pay £40m for Konate?

Liverpool have reportedly agreed personal terms with RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate, and with the Bundesliga club reluctant to negotiate a deal, they will have to pay the release clause in his contract to get the move done. Early reports suggested that the clause was set at somewhere between £28 million and £32m, but now The Telegraph suggest that it could actually rise to £40m and that Liverpool have been caught by surprise about this increase in the price.

Nonetheless, with the personal terms agreed, the Merseysiders are still likely to push forward with the deal and take the 21-year-old, their No.1 defensive target, to Anfield this summer. Leipzig, having already lost Dayot Upamecano who is set to join Bayern Munich, are still apparently hopeful that Liverpool’s likely failure to secure Champions League football for next season would impact their ability to spend this summer, and that they may yet give up on Konate.