Let me guess - he wants to win Ballon dâOr, too?!
Virgil says that Ibou is better than he was at the same age.
Hopefully it means a new deal is close for Ibou, and not that heâs leaving for free next summer.
Well doesnât sound like heâs leaving which feels a first of these messages.
Romano:
BREAKING: Ibou KonatĂ© can be REAL MADRID FIRST SIGNING for 2026, as FREE agent â reports Marca.
Thatâs not even news.
A lot of things can happenâŠNot only is he posting Marca news he is posting Marca news thatâs just âKonate entering his final year contractâ.
This is how they operate, itâs RM sending a public message to Konate to sit tight for another season and theyâll sign him for free next summer. No, itâs not news, but its purpose is to court the player.
Real Madridâs feeder club.
Is it even that though? Like his agent will know this so why does it even need to be made public?
Nat Phillips contract is up at the same time maybe we could interest them in him instead.
Set a deadline like end of July, when he either agrees a new deal or to be sold this summer. If neither, leave him out for the season. Got to react to this Madrid shit somehow.
Then what? Play Quansah every game? Hope Gomez stays fit for a month? Play Endo at CB?
This would be doing Madridâs work for them.
So the solution would be to keep losing our best players for free whenever they want? Donât think thatâs going to be a good strategy long term.
If a player doesnât want to extend his contract and doesnât want to be sold thereâs nothing a club can do about it.
Obviously you canât force him. You could bring forward a year his replacement, which will be needed anyway, and demote him to a bench role in a WC year.
Point is, if you just accept it and do nothing then obviously theyâre going to see you as their feeder club where they can just pick and choose their next free agent, and why wouldnât they. At least Barcelona used to pay money for Coutinho, Suarez etc.
Hopefully this is all hypothetical and he signs a new contract tomorrow, just trying to look at it long term.
Some other clubs might do that but we are not that kind of club. We respect our players as humans even if they donât accord us the same. We are not the kind of club to act out of spite to destroy a player just because he doesnât want to sign an extension to the contract. We might show displeasure as fans but as a club, we need to be different. Liverpool FC is as human and respectful as a global football club is concerned in a world where clubs are businesses and players and employees are just disposable assets.