Ibrahima Konaté not moving to Liverpool; Marc Guehi drawing Southampton interest — reports

RB Leipzig’s Ibrahima Konaté was said to be closing on a move to Liverpool just last week, but according to Sport BILD (via Sport Witness), that might not be the case after all. The report claims that Leipzig chief executive, Oliver Mintzlaff has been informed by the Reds that they’re not interested in the player, and rumors that they have made a concrete offer for the 21-year-old are thus well wide of the mark. Liverpool are apparently looking at other names to partner Virgil van Djik in defense once he returns from injury.

Despite Liverpool dropping out, the report claims that Konaté is still likely to move to another club at the end of the season. This could be a nice boost to Chelsea’s chances of signing him, should we of course be willing to pay his reported €41.5m release clause.

Someone costing about €41.5m less and potentially still improving our defensive options would be Marc Guehi, but the Chelsea loanee is said to be on Southampton’s radar, as per The Athletic. The Saints have apparently identified Guehi as a potential replacement for Jannik Vestergaard, who’s attracting interest from Tottenham Hotspur, but there has been no contact with Chelsea regarding a formal offer yet.

Guehi is said to be targeting Premier League football for next season after an impressive stint with Swansea City in the Championship, and he’s unlikely to be willing to be stuck in the loan system for much longer. Just another big decision that has to be made this summer.