According to reports, departing Liverpool star Ibrahima Konate was ‘open’ to joining Manchester United before Real Madrid stepped up.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that Konate is set to seal a move to Real Madrid from Liverpool on a free transfer.
Konate was a calamity for Liverpool during the 2025/26 campaign, but he is capable of being a top-level centre-back and has not been short of interest this season.
The Frenchman’s current Liverpool contract is due to expire at the end of this month, and he has been linked with several Premier League and European clubs.
Konate recently said that he was “close to an agreement” with Liverpool over a new contract, but they could not get a deal over the line and he is now heading to Real Madrid.
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On Tuesday afternoon, Fabrizio Romano said on X: ‘BREAKING: Real Madrid have verbal agreement in place with Ibrahima Konaté!
‘Four year deal to be signed, depending on if/when Florentino Pérez is re-elected.
‘Here we go, expected right after. Konaté put Saudi bids on hold for Real Madrid, as @marcosbenito9 reported.’
Ibrahima Konate ‘open’ to joining Man Utd or Chelsea
Konate has secured a move to Real Madrid after they re-entered the race to sign him after it was claimed that his poor form for Liverpool could cost him a move to the Spanish giants.
And a report from Caught Offside claims Liverpool ‘thought they were keeping Konate’ before Real Madrid ‘came back in strongly for him’.
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Before this development, the report claims Konate was considering other moves and was ‘open’ to ‘shock’ moves to Man Utd or Chelsea.
A source for the outlet claimed: “The Konate situation has been pretty crazy.
“About a month ago it looked like he was engaging really positively with the idea of staying and signing a new deal with Liverpool. Real Madrid seemed to be out of the picture.
“At the same time, it seems his agents were keeping contacts alive, and that’s now led to a verbal agreement with Real Madrid. He was also open to Chelsea, Man United, and Bayern.”
Konate is not the biggest of losses for Liverpool, but his exit leaves the Premier League giants short of options at centre-back and incoming boss Andoni Iraola has reportedly picked out a potential replacement.