Konaté agrees a free transfer to Real Madrid as his Liverpool contract runs down

Ibrahima Konaté is set to swap Liverpool for Real Madrid on a free transfer, with the France centre-back having agreed a four-year deal at the Bernabéu. His Anfield contract expires on June 30, and after months of stalled talks over an extension, he will walk away for nothing rather than commit his future to the club he helped to a Premier League title last year.

The agreement is verbal rather than signed, but the reporting from Fabrizio Romano and others points the same way: terms are settled, and Konaté has chosen Madrid over a couple of lucrative routes elsewhere. He becomes the second Liverpool player in successive summers to make the move to the Spanish capital, following Trent Alexander-Arnold out of the same exit door.

A deal waiting on a vote

There is one obstacle left, and it has nothing to do with the player. Madrid hold their presidential election on June 7, and the club are not expected to put pen to paper on anything until that is resolved. The deal is widely reported to hinge on Florentino Pérez winning another term, after which an announcement is expected to follow quickly.

Konaté did not lack for alternatives. He is said to have put two offers from the Middle East on hold while he thrashed out terms with Madrid, turning down the kind of money Saudi clubs have used to prise plenty of European players away. Choosing the Bernabéu over that says something about where he believes his career still has room to go.

Five years at Anfield end for free

Konaté arrived from RB Leipzig in 2021 for around 36 million pounds and leaves having made himself a regular at the heart of Liverpool’s defence when fit. He won the Premier League in 2024-25, the FA Cup in 2022, two League Cups and a Community Shield, and at 27 he is moving at an age when a top centre-back is usually entering his best years.

That is exactly why losing him on a free will rankle at Anfield. Liverpool spent a long time trying to tie him down and ran out of road, and they now face replacing a first-choice defender without banking a penny for him. Pair that with Alexander-Arnold’s departure a year earlier and Madrid have quietly taken two of Liverpool’s first-choice defenders from under their noses.

Madrid rebuild at the back

For Madrid, this is the kind of business they have made a habit of, landing an established international without paying a transfer fee and spreading the outlay across wages and a signing bonus. Konaté gives them a quick, physical defender to add to a back line that has looked in need of fresh legs, and he arrives with Champions League pedigree already on his CV.

There is barely time to draw breath before his summer gets busier still. Konaté is part of France’s squad for the World Cup, which begins on June 11, so the Madrid news will land just as he turns his attention to a tournament his country reached the final of four years ago. The medical and the unveiling will have to wait until he is back.

Keep up with the summer’s transfer business