Lewis Steele: One Liverpool player is ’50-50′ as to whether he ‘stays for goes’ this summer | OneFootball

Lewis Steele: One Liverpool player is ’50-50′ as to whether he ‘stays for goes’ this summer | OneFootball

In partnership with

Yahoo sports
Icon: Empire of the Kop

Empire of the Kop

·28 July 2025

Lewis Steele: One Liverpool player is ’50-50′ as to whether he ‘stays for goes’ this summer

Article image:Lewis Steele: One Liverpool player is ’50-50′ as to whether he ‘stays for goes’ this summer

Lewis Steele has rated one Liverpool player’s chances of remaining at the club for the 2025/26 season as ’50-50′.

Arne Slot has begun to remodel the squad in his own image this summer, with several new faces through the door such as Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong, and a few exits in the form of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Caoimhin Kelleher, Jarell Quansah and now Luis Diaz.


OneFootball Videos


The ins and outs aren’t likely to end there, with the Reds continuing to pursue a blockbuster move for Alexander Isak while also potentially parting with further members of the Premier League-winning group from last term.

One man who’s been linked with an exit from Liverpool is Ibrahima Konate, with CaughtOffside reporting last week that Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are all hoping to pounce after the defender entered the final year of his contract at Anfield.

Steele rates chances of Konate staying as ’50-50′

In an update on his eponymous YouTube channel from Tokyo, where the Reds are currently based during the second leg of their pre-season tour to the Far East, Steele discussed the club’s need for centre-back reinforcements after the injury to Joe Gomez at the weekend.

As he talked through the current state of play regarding the LFC squad, the journalist said: “As we know, Ibrahima Konate has a year left on his contract and it’s quite 50-50 whether he stays or goes.”

Article image:Lewis Steele: One Liverpool player is ’50-50′ as to whether he ‘stays for goes’ this summer

(Photo by Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Liverpool must keep Konate this summer – no ifs or buts

Discussions over a new deal for the Frenchman haven’t been going smoothly – as outlined by David Lynch in recent days, the 26-year-old’s priority might be to renew, but talks have hit an impasse and ‘aren’t really progressing at the moment’.

We’re not privy to the particulars of those conversations, but unless the defender is seeking terms which are wildly unreasonable, the Liverpool hierarchy must surely be open to compromise on keeping hold of him.

If August ends with Konate, Gomez and Virgil van Dijk as our only senior centre-backs, that’s asking for trouble as the season goes on, irrespective of the world’s best player in his position being contained among that trio.

Scarily, it’s not wholly implausible that FSG might cash in our number 5 before then if it becomes apparent that a contract renewal is unlikely, with a possibly temptation to sell this summer rather than losing him on a free transfer next year.

Quite simply, Liverpool can’t afford to lose the 26-year-old right now. Even if Gomez makes a swift recovery and Marc Guehi is signed, we’re still not in a position to part with the France international, whose importance to the team at present is impossible to overstate.

View publisher imprint