Ibrahima Konaté is the latest ­Liver­pool player to deliberate over his future after confirming that the club’s offer of a new contract remains unsigned.

The France international has 18 months on his deal and was offered an extension more than three months ago. Liverpool are in a precarious position with Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander‑Arnold, all of whom are in the final six months of their contracts and free to sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club.

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Konaté was asked whether a new deal was on the table. “Yes,” he replied. And asked whether he was close to signing, he said: “This is another conversation.”

The 25-year-old said that a few months ago he was “not ready” for contract talks but had since spoken to the club. “I am really focused on what happens now,” he said. “We will see what will happen.”

The £36m signing from RB Leipzig has formed a commanding partnership with Van Dijk this season. He agreed that it could be the best ­central ­defensive unit in Europe. “This ­season, yes, I think so,” said Konaté, who revealed he was ­playing in pain from a recent knee injury.

“Everyone knows Virgil’s quality. For me he is the best. No one is better than him in this position. I learned a lot from him and other ­players like [Joël] Matip and Joe Gomez. I never said it to Virgil but in interviews I’ve always said I just want to be better than him one day and that is why I work hard to reach this level one day. He would be proud, I think.”

Liverpool host Lille in the Cham­pions League and require one point from the final two group games to secure qualification for the last 16. Lille occupy the final automatic qualifying spot after an impressive campaign that has brought victories against Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Bologna and Sturm Graz and a draw against Juventus.

Arne Slot’s team top the group with the competition’s only 100% record. Maintaining that will be a ­motivation against Lille, the head coach said, but finishing first may not be an ­advantage in the new Champions League format.

Slot said: “You might think that ending up No 1 is the best position but because it’s such a strange league table you could end up ­facing Paris Saint-Germain, who are low in the table but that is not their ­quality. That’s a disadvantage. I’m not ­looking at the league table in a way of: ‘If we are No 1 then we’ll probably have the easiest team to face.’ It’s impossible to say that because of the strange format.”

The head coach confirmed Diogo Jota was facing several weeks out with the muscle injury sustained at Nottingham Forest last Tuesday.