Arne Slot\u2019s Liverpool could be on the verge of losing another key player.<\/p>\n
Reports suggest the Reds have \u2018given up\u2019 hope of keeping one of their star men at Anfield \u2014 news that has surfaced just hours before their crucial clash with Manchester City.<\/p>\n
Slot\u2019s side are aiming to defend their Premier League crown but currently trail early leaders Arsenal by eight points. A win at the Etihad this afternoon would see them cut that gap to five.<\/p>\n
Liverpool have recently rediscovered their form after enduring four consecutive league defeats \u2014 their worst run since Slot replaced J\u00fcrgen Klopp.<\/p>\n
The summer brought major changes at Anfield, with over \u00a3400 million spent on signings such as Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitike, and Alexander Isak. Meanwhile, notable departures included Darwin N\u00fa\u00f1ez, Luis D\u00edaz, Jarell Quansah, Caoimhin Kelleher, and Trent Alexander-Arnold.<\/p>\n
Alexander-Arnold\u2019s exit was particularly controversial among supporters. The academy graduate refused to extend his contract with his boyhood club and joined Real Madrid for a reported \u00a38.4 million, allowing him to feature in last summer\u2019s FIFA Club World Cup.<\/p>\n
He made an emotional return to Anfield earlier this week when Real faced Liverpool in the Champions League \u2014 a match decided by an Alexis Mac Allister goal.<\/p>\n
Now, another Liverpool defender, Ibrahima Konat\u00e9, could follow in Alexander-Arnold\u2019s footsteps and move to Madrid. The Frenchman, who regularly partners Virgil van Dijk in defence, is entering the final year of his contract. Despite discussions over an extension, no agreement has been reached.<\/p>\n
As a result, Konat\u00e9 could leave for free next summer and will be eligible to negotiate a pre-contract with clubs outside England from January.<\/p>\n
According to Spanish outlet AS, published just hours before the City game, Liverpool have effectively \u2018given up\u2019 on keeping the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n
The report claims: \u201cKonat\u00e9, a Liverpool player like Trent before him, is taking a cautious approach to Real Madrid\u2019s interest \u2014 step by step, carefully but surely. In fact, at Anfield, they\u2019ve already given up on him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arne Slot\u2019s Liverpool could be on the verge of losing another key player. Reports suggest the Reds have \u2018given up\u2019 hope of keeping one of their star men at Anfield \u2014 news that has surfaced just hours before their crucial clash with Manchester City. Slot\u2019s side are aiming to defend their Premier League crown but …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":54003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/resize-13.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54004,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54002\/revisions\/54004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}