As Liverpool know all too properly, a sample is rising in relation to Actual Madrid‘s switch technique. Now, the Reds should now take motion to make sure they maintain the playing cards over Ibrahima Konate‘s future.
Florentino Perez walks about European soccer like he’s John Gotti in a tailor-made swimsuit – untouchable, unbothered, all the time a step forward. Not as a result of he’s as highly effective as he thinks he’s, however as a result of the soccer world permits him to function that manner.
UEFA look the opposite manner, FIFA keep silent and golf equipment too usually act courteously whereas Madrid act with precision.
This isn’t switch enterprise, it’s the quiet domination of a system that Madrid have was a weapon.
Actual Madrid’s switch method
This isn’t a intelligent loophole. The rule is evident: golf equipment aren’t allowed to barter with gamers till they’re into the ultimate six months of their contract.
However with Madrid, the timing all the time appears to boost questions. Fluency in a brand new language; determination dates that quietly precede the authorized window; carefully-timed media leaks that construct inevitability earlier than negotiations are even supposed to start.
No guidelines are damaged, at the very least not on paper, however when the identical story performs out repeatedly – with David Alaba, Antonio Rudiger, Kylian Mbappe, Trent Alexander-Arnold – you’re left questioning whether or not Madrid are merely extra strategic or whether or not everybody else is selecting to look the opposite manner.
This isn’t new, it’s simply turning into unattainable to disregard.
Alaba left Bayern Munich for nothing in 2021 after months of rumours, most of which conveniently originated in Spain. Rudiger walked away from Chelsea the next summer time, once more with Actual Madrid already in place lengthy earlier than the deal was official.
These weren’t panic buys or late alternatives, they have been calculated lengthy video games, publicly denied till the second they have been confirmed.
Then got here Mbappe. For years, Marca and AS printed story after story about Madrid’s curiosity. Paris Saint-Germain spent staggering sums to maintain him.
The French president even obtained concerned however the story all the time ended the identical manner, the participant signing for Madrid on a free with an enormous signing bonus and a smile. Everybody noticed it coming. Nobody stopped it.
This isn’t silence. It’s a media marketing campaign, a sluggish, orchestrated weakening of a participant’s ties to their membership, bolstered by the notion that Madrid is all the time the ultimate vacation spot.
Arne Slot, himself, has spoken about the issue:
“If my reminiscence is right, I feel it occurs principally with a sure membership that brings free brokers in, and also you don’t see it that a lot at different large golf equipment…but.
“However I can not predict the longer term, so I don’t know what’s going to occur, however it occurred just a few occasions now, however I additionally see plenty of gamers shifting for large switch charges in each single window within the final three, 4 or 5 years.
“So, it may very well be a Trent…development. Humorous phrase, by the best way.”
When the masks slips
Alexander-Arnold’s transfer to Madrid adopted the identical sample besides this time, the proof was even clearer.
Effectively-practiced Spanish on the unveiling, no critical curiosity from every other main membership, that appears unthinkable. A generational expertise on a free switch, why weren’t there extra suitors?
There was even a press convention slip through which he admitted he had “been ready a very long time” for the transfer, earlier than correcting himself to “just a few weeks.”
He additionally stated he selected the transfer in March, however his tears in the course of the PSG sport advised a distinct story. Perhaps that was the realisation it was his last-ever European evening beneath the Anfield lights.
That’s not coincidence, that’s choreography.
Fluency in a language doesn’t occur in six months and definitely not in the course of a Premier League season. This was deliberate, ready, all however finalised earlier than anybody at Liverpool realised what was occurring – or at the very least, earlier than they admitted it.
This isn’t a dig at Trent, gamers are entitled to maneuver, however it’s the way of it, the dearth of transparency, the sluggish movement inevitability that exhibits how Madrid’s mannequin actually works.
And as soon as once more, Liverpool have been left to carry the door open and smile.
To their credit score, Liverpool did stand agency ultimately, demanding and securing a £10 million payment from Madrid so Trent might characteristic within the Membership World Cup.
However that late present of resolve solely raises one other query, how rather more might they’ve acquired if they’d taken management a yr earlier?
That £10 million wasn’t a switch triumph, it was salvage work, a last-minute response to a state of affairs that ought to by no means have been dictated by the participant or the shopping for membership. It ought to have been carried out on Liverpool’s phrases, all of it.
Extra broadly, this creates a disparity between golf equipment.
Whereas one membership advantages from saving cash on a switch payment, the opposite loses the flexibility to reinvest. It distorts the European panorama and weakens the competitors. It creates imbalance that favours the highly effective and people who know find out how to manipulate the principles.
Myles Lewis-Skelly and the subsequent wave
It isn’t simply Liverpool. Arsenal’s highly-rated teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly is reportedly one other participant Madrid need to prise away totally free.
His contract runs till 2026, however tales have already emerged linking him with a pre-planned exit. Regardless of being solely 17 years previous, the indicators are worryingly acquainted: long-term admiration, stalled renewal talks and refined strain constructing within the background.
And he’s not alone.
Actual Madrid are stated to be monitoring a complete wave of gamers whose offers finish in 2026, together with Valencia’s Cristhian Mosquera, Bayern’s Dayot Upamecano, AC Milan‘s Theo Hernandez and PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma.
In every case, the rhythm is identical: no formal contact, no rule-breaking, simply well timed tales and scouting presence designed to place Madrid because the inevitable finish level.
The messaging is quiet however deliberate. The media framing isn’t unintentional, it’s a part of the equipment – Marca and AS do the heavy lifting. Membership sources deny curiosity till it’s handy and Madrid, like a boss who by no means leaves fingerprints, preserve believable deniability whereas everybody else performs by guidelines that not apply.
Ibrahima Konate: The subsequent goal?
And now Madrid circle once more.
Konate has a yr left on his deal. Talks over a brand new contract have been ongoing since November however have now stalled.
In line with the Guardian, Liverpool’s first supply was incentive-heavy, however what’s unclear is whether or not any supply, nevertheless structured, could be sufficient to sway the participant.
As soon as Madrid’s curiosity is within the air, negotiations start to really feel performative. Is that this actually about cash, or is it already about Madrid?
In the meantime, the media groundwork is already being laid: ‘monitoring the state of affairs’, ‘a participant admired by Xabi Alonso’, ‘one to observe in 2026’. It’s all painfully acquainted.
No unlawful contact, no formal bids, simply the sluggish, predictable drip of narrative that primes a transfer properly earlier than it occurs. And if Liverpool don’t act now, decisively, they may lose one other elite participant and not using a payment.
You possibly can’t power a participant, however you may put together
Some will argue that Liverpool can’t promote if Konate doesn’t need to go away. And on paper, they’re proper. No membership can power a participant out towards his will, however that’s not what that is about. It’s about regaining management earlier than Madrid take it from us.
We’re not speaking about placing a participant on the bench out of spite, we’re speaking about making agency, forward-thinking selections.
If a participant received’t decide to the membership long-term, then the membership has to arrange for all times with out him – and that begins by signing competitors.
Should you strengthen the place and his minutes scale back naturally, then you could have protected your self and despatched a message that contracts have penalties.
In a yr that ends with a World Cup, gamers need rhythm, they need visibility, they need to play. That’s leverage, not punishment. That’s how critical golf equipment deal with main belongings.
Sure, it may cost a little cash short-term, however letting one other £50 million participant stroll totally free? That’s not loyalty, that’s mismanagement.
Time to set the phrases
Liverpool don’t have to posture and so they actually don’t have to imitate Madrid.
What they need to do is shield their very own pursuits with the identical readability and conviction that has underpinned the membership’s biggest eras.
That is nonetheless Liverpool Soccer Membership of six European Cups, a worldwide fanbase and a squad able to difficult for main honours. The technique that after relied on good recruitment and calm negotiation now must be paired with firmer strains within the sand.
Madrid by no means hesitate to form a state of affairs of their favour and the remainder of Europe not often calls them on it. Liverpool shouldn’t mirror that method, however neither ought to they accommodate it.
With gamers like Konate, the message must be uncomplicated, to decide to the challenge or create the area for somebody who will.
Decisive motion, whether or not which means an early sale or a strong new contract, re-establishes management and ensures the phrases are Liverpool’s, not Madrid’s.
Being proactive right here will not be an act of aggression, it’s trendy soccer governance. It indicators to each dressing room and each agent that Liverpool’s future won’t be dictated by exterior agendas.
Breaking the cycle
Madrid’s technique will not be genius. It’s not revolutionary. It’s simply shameless and efficient.
They bend the principles as a result of nobody enforces them. They act with impunity as a result of too many golf equipment nonetheless imagine in old-world loyalty.
Liverpool should break that cycle and promote Konate if he received’t signal.
They need to keep on the sentiment confirmed by holding out for the Trent payment, make it clear that we’re not the comfortable contact, that we’re not standing nonetheless whereas Madrid write the ending for us.
As a result of, if we don’t, this may maintain occurring. The door will all the time be open and Perez, appearing just like the kingpin he believes himself to be, will stroll proper via it.
