Richard Hughes DEEP in contract talks with elite international star

Liverpool are deep in contract talks with one elite international star. Can Richard Hughes get it over the line?

Liverpool are far from done when it comes to rebuilding their squad. Richard Hughes' major task was to reshape it for the new era, moving past Jurgen Klopp's squad and creating something new for Arne Slot.

2025 has seen the vast majority of that happen. The Reds looked to the future in defence, midfield and attack, spending over £400m on new players.

And, of course, raking in over £200m in sales. It's a two way street, after all.

But Liverpool aren't done. They still need to restructure other areas of the pitch as well as deal with the contracts of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah down the line.

Then there's the contract situations of those expiring in 2026. It's something Hughes is dealing with right now.

Liverpool's contract situation

Liverpool have both Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate on expiring contracts and with little suggestion that they're about to re-sign. It risks complicating things dramatically.

Robertson, however, may decide to move on if Milos Kerkez remains ahead of him in the pecking order. We'll see what happens there.

But the Konate situation is a massive one. Liverpool really can't afford to lose him, not with massive question marks over every other centre-back.

Van Dijk will have one year remaining and will be 34. Joe Gomez was set to leave in the summer and may well want to in January. Giovanni Leoni is out for the season and it's completely unclear how he'll be on his return.

Football Insider claims Hughes and the club are locked deep in talks with Konate to try and get a deal done. Now, that might sound like a non-story but Liverpool were very much not locked in talks with Alexander-Arnold this time a year ago.

In fact, the Scouser didn't really have proper talks with Liverpool for a long, long time - the clearest indication that he wanted to leave. Things are different with Koante, who is apparently discussing a deal with the Reds.

It suggests he wants to stay. It certainly suggests Liverpool want him to - this is a deal Hughes has worked on for a year now, after all.

So we'll take this as very positive.

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