Ibrahima Konaté, the 26-year-old French international centre-back currently playing for Liverpool, has decided not to renew his contract set to expire in 2026. Konaté has expressed a clear preference to join Real Madrid as a free agent next summer, prioritizing the Spanish club over other interested teams such as Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona. Liverpool has made two contract renewal offers to Konaté, both of which he has rejected. The English club is reportedly concerned about losing him for free and would prefer to sell him this summer to avoid a repeat of the Trent Alexander-Arnold situation. Liverpool has set a transfer price of at least €50 million for Konaté, while Real Madrid is only willing to pay between €20 million and €25 million this summer. Despite this, Real Madrid plans to sign Konaté as a free agent in 2026 and has asked him to wait until then. The Spanish club considers Konaté their priority centre-back target and views Real Madrid as the ideal club for his career development. Liverpool, however, is reluctant to allow a summer departure and prefers to keep him until his contract ends next year.