French centre-back Ibrahima Konaté’s contract renewal talks with Liverpool have officially collapsed, and the player will leave Anfield on a free transfer this summer after five seasons at the club. Meanwhile, Liverpool have been presented with an opportunity to sign Illia Zabarnyi from Paris Saint-Germain, accelerating their centre-back rebuild in the summer window.
Konaté renewal: one step away, stalled on bonuses
Renowned transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano confirmed at the weekend that Konaté’s story with Liverpool “is over.” Looking back to April this year, the two sides had been very close to completing a new deal—the contract length and wage terms were all agreed, and the player even said publicly he was “close to signing.” The impasse ultimately came down to bonus clauses: on one hand, incentives tied to winning the Premier League, the Champions League and similar titles; on the other, the triggers for routine clauses such as appearance counts. The two types of “easy” and “hard” bonuses never aligned.
After weeks of back-and-forth, negotiations collapsed entirely. Konaté joined Liverpool in 2019, and his five-year Anfield career will end with no transfer fee. For a Liverpool side that needs a stable centre-back partnership, this is a hard gap at the heart of their defence.
Zabarnyi opportunity emerges
With Konaté’s departure all but certain, Liverpool have reportedly been given the chance to sign PSG centre-back Zabarnyi, with the transfer market valuing the move at around £57m. Zabarnyi is in his prime, possesses the ball-playing and physical attributes a modern centre-back requires, and stylistically can fill the space Konaté leaves behind. From an operational standpoint, dealing directly with the recruitment route opened up by Paris Saint-Germain is more likely to shorten the summer window than shopping around.
Defensive rebuild pressure and recent trends
Succession talks are already underway: Bayer Leverkusen’s Jarell Quansah (who left Liverpool only last season) and Borussia Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck have both been linked. Quansah knows the Liverpool system, while Schlotterbeck has proven his reliability in the Bundesliga—two paths that reflect different cost structures between an internal return and an external raid.
On the pitch, Liverpool’s form was uneven through the closing stages of the 2025 season — a 4-2 away defeat in Matchday 37, 1-1 draws in Matchdays 36 and 38, and 3-1 and 3-2 wins in Matchdays 34 and 35. The back line showed limited margin for error across a run of consecutive fixtures, which explains why the club must move early in the summer window to secure a center-back. From a tactical standpoint, the new signing must handle both sweeping and interceptions in front of a high defensive line and help organize buildup from the back — precisely the areas the system must recalibrate after Konaté’s departure.
The summer transfer window has yet to open, but Liverpool’s defensive ledger is already clear: Konaté leaves on a free transfer, the leading replacement target is Zabarnyi, and backup options remain on the list. The personnel decisions made in the opening week of the window will directly shape how efficiently the back line operates at the start of the new season.
