Ibrahima Konate agreement reached as Liverpool sent clear warning - 'He'll get it now'

Konate

Former Premier League defenders Conor Coady and Rio Ferdinand have rushed to defend Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate.

The central defensive pairing have dismissed the Frenchman's form after coming in for criticism already this season.

Arne Slot's side have been thrust under the microscope after their Premier League title defence took a wobble in the last seven days.

However, the performances of Konate have been one of the main talking points throughout the season with Liverpool looking unconvincing defensively, despite winning their first five.

The 26-year-old is out of contract next summer and the Reds face a similar predicament to the one that saw Trent Alexander-Arnold leave under a cloud after joining Real Madrid.

Los Blancos have been long-standing suitors for the former RB Leipzig stopper and the speculation has suggested Xabi Alonso's side could look to exploit the free agency market once again.

Amid the ongoing uncertainty surrounding his future at Liverpool, Konate has endured indifferent form so far this term.

He bounced back with solid displays against Arsenal and Everton, but come under fire for errors during the Bournemouth, Newcastle United and Galatasaray contests.

Ferdinand has claimed that due to the ongoing rumours surrounding a move to Madrid, Konate is becoming the scapegoat due to the uncertainty around his future

Ferdinand

"There’s no way that Konate has a bad performance last season and he’s getting the headline treatment,"

"It’s only because of the interest from Real Madrid, and there’s going to be disgruntled fans and people in the media that support Liverpool who are going to now start pointing the finger and blaming him.

"Or, whenever there’s a little mistake here, and if there’s blame to be put between two people, he’ll probably get it now because of that situation."

Defensively, Liverpool have been poor so far this season and their late flurry of goals has been turned around by conceding late.

In each of their last two Premier League matches, the champions have come from behind to level proceedings but losing out in stoppage time as Estevao Willian's strike mimicked Eddie Nketiah's late effort, seven days earlier.

Fresh scrutiny has been placed on new defensive arrivals Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, while Conor Bradley has also endured a dip in form.

Coady argued that Konate's mishaps and negative displays are down to a lack of protection from his right-sided partners.

The former Liverpool and Everton defender said:

Coady "I look from a centre-back's point of view and Konate is getting a bit of stick at the start of the season, let's be honest.

"But you've got to remember he has got to play a different way now.

“What I mean by that is that he's having to defend in the channel now because Frimpong or Conor Bradley are out of position or Szoboszlai is out of midfield.

"They exploited that channel and Konate has got to go out and defend and I'm telling you now, from a centre-back's point of view, you do not want to go out there and defend as a right-back.

"It's hard, there's a reason you're not out there, you're not quick enough.

“Trent would go into midfield but I always thought he was there. He got a lot of stick for his defending but now there's no full-back in position and whenever the ball is in transition, the space is vacated so Konate is having to defend in the channel with a massive space.

“I'm telling you now, no centre-back wants to defend there and there's a reason you play centre-back and not right-back.”

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