Arne Slot continues to hint at Ibrahima Konate EXIT

Liverpool boss Arne Slot continues to hint that Ibrahima Konate is exiting the club this summer. It's a very real proposition.

Liverpool are in a difficult situation with Ibrahima Konate right now. The Frenchman's contract will run into its final year this summer, essentially forcing a large financial outlay by someone.

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Now, that might not be Liverpool. Anfield Watch understands that Paris Saint-Germain would love to sign Konate, who is from Paris and one of the leaders of the French national team.

Signing elite French players has been a hallmark of their transfer strategy over the last couple of years. Konate would be a fine addition in that regard.

Liverpool, however, won't want to lose Konate. They'd demand a large transfer fee at the very least - or as large as you can get in the final year of a player's contract.

Alternatively, the Reds could renew Konate's deal. We're just not sure the signs are pointing that way right now.

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Arne Slot's Konate plan

Liverpool lost 3-2 at Fulham on Sunday and the fixture saw Arne Slot make an interesting decision. With the Reds chasing the game, he took Konate off and moved Ryan Gravenberch to centre-back.

The team did regain control of the game after that and very nearly pulled off a comeback. The telling thing, though, is that Slot thought Liverpool could regain control better with Gravenberch at the back and an extra midfielder on the pitch.

It's not the first time he's thought that, either. Slot has made a similar move three times in 2025.

Against Wolves, he took Konate off at half-time for Jarell Quansah. Against Nottingham Forest, he took him off for Diogo Jota, moving Gravenberch to centre-back. Now we've got the Fulham move, too.

It all shows off that Slot feels Konate can be improved upon in certain situations. Moving Gravenberch back, or even Quansah, won't limit the team too much and you'll gain a bit of control of the ball.

Now, this isn't to suggest that Slot views these players as better than Konate at centre-back - he almost certainly doesn't. Konate has been brilliant for the most part this season.

But it does suggest that Konate is far from perfect, or that Slot sees things that way. In tough games where Liverpool need to break a team down, it's better than he's off the pitch.

Which brings us back to those contract talks. Liverpool aren't going to pay an enormous amount of money to Konate if they don't believe he's perfect.

That's just not how they operate. They'd much rather get a large transfer fee and find better value for their money.

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Slot's substitutions are pointing to a flaw in Konate that almost certainly prevents him from getting the money he'd want from Liverpool. Those subs instead hint that an exit is on the way.