---
title: "Liverpool set to trigger £40m release clause for 21-year-old French defender"
canonical: "https://readliverpoolfc.com/news/liverpool-to-sign-konate/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Liam Sterling"
section: "Liverpool News"
published: "2021-04-30T14:00:00Z"
modified: "2021-04-30T14:00:00Z"
---

# Liverpool set to trigger £40m release clause for 21-year-old French defender

Liverpool have suffered from [defensive injuries](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-liverpool/sperrenundverletzungen/verein/31) this season with Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez out for most of the campaign.

The pair sustained serious injuries in October and November which both required surgery.

This required the club to dip into the transfer marketin January to sure up their defensive options.

The [additions](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/liverpool-fc/transfers/verein/31/plus/1?saison_id=2020&pos=&detailpos=&w_s=w) of Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies gave the club enough versatility to see out the rest of the season.

However, this hasn’t stopped the club continuing their pursuit of a new central defender.

According to the [Daily Mail](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html), as cited by Anfield Watch on Twitter, Liverpool at set to trigger the release clause of Ibrahima Konaté…

https://twitter.com/AnfieldWatch/status/1387848729206665217

The RB Leipzig defender has been [linked](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9517581/Liverpool-plan-sign-RB-Leipzig-defender-Ibrahima-Konate-40m-despite-financial-losses.html) with a move to the club for some time now.

At just 21-years-old, Konaté has grown to become an impressive young player with plenty of potential.

If Liverpool do manage to sign him in the summer then we could be looking at some incredible depth in defence.

When Van Dijk and Gomez are back fit as well as Joel Matip, the club will have the three as well as Konaté and Nat Phillips.

That is a very impressive haul of defensive talent that should prevent any problems with injuries in the future.

With a current market value of £31.5million according to [Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/ibrahima-konate/marktwertverlauf/spieler/357119), the Reds will be paying above value.

However, this shouldn’t be a big problem given how much this value could grow over the coming years.