Ibrahima Konate has won a Premier League, an FA Cup, and two League Cups during his time at Anfield. France defender Ibrahima Konate is set to leave Liverpool for free when his contract expires in June. Long-term discussions took place to renew Konate's deal, but have ended without a resolution amid a gap between the centre-half and club over his value and wages.

Konate, 27, joined Liverpool from RB Leipzig in 2021 for £35m on a five-year contract. Both parties were initially keen to agree a renewal, with Konate telling reporters after April's Merseyside derby he was "close to an agreement" and there was a "big chance" he would remain at Anfield next season. Negotiations began in November 2023, but an agreement has proven elusive.

BBC Sport understands negotiations have now stopped and Konate will become the latest player to leave Liverpool on a free this summer after Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah. Last year, defender Trent Alexander-Arnold joined Real Madrid a month before his contract expired after the Spanish club paid a fee to release him early to play in the Club World Cup.

Captain Virgil van Dijk's current deal expires next summer, while the Reds failed to sign Marc Guehi on deadline day last September, with the England player joining Manchester City in January. Liverpool are confident they have sufficient depth at centre-half after recruiting Giovanni Leoni last summer and the arrival of £60m Jeremy Jacquet, 20, this summer. But it does leave Van Dijk, 34, and Joe Gomez, 29, as their only experienced central defenders.

Frenchman Jacquet, who turns 21 in July, played 21 games for Rennes last season but missed the last four months with a shoulder injury. Leoni, 19, was ruled out for a year after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in September, a month after joining the Reds from Parma for a fee of £26m plus add-ons. The belief within Liverpool is that other areas - like replacing Salah and filling the gap after Hugo Ekitike's long-term injury - are priorities, rather than agreeing to an expensive renewal for Konate.

In the modern era, Liverpool have allowed several players to leave the club without earning a fee. Influential forward Roberto Firmino left the club on a free in 2023 after manager Jurgen Klopp said he wanted him to stay. Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum featured in every Premier League match among 51 appearances during his final season for Liverpool before becoming a free agent in the summer of 2021. Liverpool opted not to renew the contracts of Emre Can, Adam Lallana, and James Milner who all left without Merseyside without earning the club a fee, as did Naby Keita, Divock Origi, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Konate sounded as confident as ever when he said in April there was a "big chance" he would remain at Anfield. In fact, he even asked reporters to speak to Liverpool's sporting director Richard Hughes, implying he had always wanted to stay at the club, despite earlier rumours linking him with a move to Real Madrid. "I'm waiting to sort the contract, but when everything is sorted, you will have to ask Richard what I said to him in September, November and he's going to say something to make everyone quiet," Konate said at the time.

Over the past few months, manager Arne Slot described Konate as "vital" and admitted Liverpool would not be in talks for a new deal if they did not want the defender to stay. Now it looks like that contract will not be sorted and Konate will be on his way out of Anfield without even saying goodbye - unlike Salah and Robertson, who both said their farewells to fans last weekend.

In truth, it is a mess on both sides. For Liverpool, this is yet another experienced campaigner leaving on a free transfer. Such a situation should have been resolved last summer, in order to get a fee for Konate or at the latest by the January window. At 27, Konate is in his prime and - though the options aren't clear at the moment - eyes will light up around the world at getting a centre-half of his calibre for free.

Any decision as to his next club may come after the World Cup. However, that will come down to an agreement on wages, with the simple matter that Konate wants a lot more money than the amount at which Liverpool value him. It leaves the Frenchman in a precarious position and unable to stay at the club where he said he truly wanted to be.

Liverpool believe any agreement cannot come at the cost of their financial equilibrium or undermine the allocation of resources within the playing squad. And so it looks as if Konate will quietly exit through the back door. Liverpool's season to forget may have finished last week but the problems continue for Slot and co, with what is a disappointing outcome for both parties.