Liverpool to reward Jarell Quansah and Ibrahima Konate with new deals – here is why
Liverpool are to reward defenders Ibrahima Konate and Jarell Quansah with new long-term contracts, with talks with the duo progressing.
England Under-21 international Quansah is closest to penning terms, with the club in advanced negotiations to recognise his promotion to a senior member of Liverpool’s squad over the past 12 months. Quansah can expect a significant pay rise given his last deal was signed when he was still a youth player.
Preliminary talks are also underway with French international Konate, who has re-established himself alongside Virgil van Dijk in the first-choice defensive pairing, starting this season in his best form. At 25, Konate’s deal would commit his peak years to Anfield.
Liverpool have conceded just two Premier League goals across their first seven matches, and only four goals in 10 in all competitions. The resolve of the back four has been a key feature of the excellent start under new manager Arne Slot.
Why Quansah and Konate are key to Slot’s plan
Quansah’s new deal could be finalised during the upcoming international break. The academy product made his Liverpool debut last season, ending the campaign as a Carabao Cup winner and hailed as one of several emerging young England defenders, called up to Gareth Southgate’s preliminary squad before Euro 2024.
The Warrington-born 21-year-old started the season under Slot and his since fallen below Konate in the pecking order, but his deal is a reflection of how highly he is rated by the club who resisted numerous overtures for him over the summer, most notably when Newcastle United asked for him to be included in a possible player-plus cash deal for Anthony Gordon. Liverpool’s resistance underlined that they see Quansah as a long-term solution at centre-half.
The approach to Konate’s representatives – those talks will continue over the coming weeks – underlines his recent return to the level at which he began his Anfield career.
Liverpool signed Konate from RB Leipzig in 2021 for a fee of £36 million and his excellence during his debut year saw him pass Joel Matip as the preferred partner alongside Van Dijk.
Last season was trickier because of a combination of injuries and loss of form during the climax to the campaign, but – statistically, at least – he and Van Dijk have been the outstanding centre-back partnership of the new campaign.
Liverpool making progress with talks on Quansah and Konate’s future will inevitably renew focus on how far they are getting with Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who have been a priority since Slot and new director of football Richard Hughes took over.
Like Mohamed Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold are out of contract at the end of this season but reaching an agreement which suits all parties has so far proven difficult.
