Liverpool's Defensive Reset: Finding a Successor for Konaté

Liverpool stand on the brink of a defensive reset. Not by choice, but by circumstance.

Ibrahima Konaté is running his contract down on Merseyside and, as things stand, looks destined to walk away as a free agent. At 26, a France international in his prime, he leaves behind more than a gap on the team sheet. He leaves a hole right in the spine of a side already creaking under the strain of a difficult season.

Virgil van Dijk will still be there next year. Technically. The captain has 12 months left on his deal and remains the figurehead of this back line, but he turns 35 in July. Liverpool are not just replacing Konaté; they are staring at the end of an era. A long-term successor to a Premier League and Champions League winner must be found before the decline becomes irreversible.

Attack rebuilt, defence left behind

Liverpool did not hold back in 2025. They tore up British transfer records to reload the attack, throwing huge money at Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike. Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez arrived to energise the full-back positions, a nod to the club’s long-standing reliance on width and high-tempo football.

The centre of defence, though, has started to look like the room nobody quite got around to renovating.

That cannot continue into 2026. The focus is swinging, sharply now, towards the heart of a unit that no longer intimidates opponents the way it once did. The recruitment department has already begun scanning the Premier League, and the shortlist has a distinctly domestic feel.

Murillo, the Brazilian catching the eye at Forest, has forced his way onto multiple radars with his blend of composure and aggression. Van de Ven, with his power and pace at Spurs, looks like the kind of defender who could anchor a back line for years. Whether Tottenham can keep hold of him, even if they dodge relegation this summer, is another question entirely.

‘They haven’t got the time’

For Glen Johnson, the debate starts with one key question: does Premier League experience have to be non-negotiable?

“Possibly,” the former Liverpool full-back told GOAL, speaking courtesy of BetMGM. “I think it's important with Premier League experience in whatever position they're trying to improve in, because it's not just improving the position, they need to compete with whoever's going to be the league winners.

“It's not as easy as getting someone with that experience, they just need to be good enough. But I definitely feel proven, they haven't got the time to buy a 20-year-old that could be the best player, best centre-back in five years' time or six years' time, they need to start competing now.

“So those two look like the obvious if you had to pick out of the Premier League, but if they're good enough to step up to that level to compete for titles, given the chance, we'll never know.”

The message is clear: this is not a project signing window. Liverpool cannot afford to wait for potential to blossom while the rest of the league sprints away.

One for now, one for later?

The question is not just who, but how many.

Konaté’s exit would strip Liverpool of a key piece of depth in a position where injuries and age have already bitten hard. Johnson believes the club should think bigger than a like-for-like replacement.

“They probably need two,” he said, when pressed on whether Liverpool should sign more than one centre-back. “But going against what I said just now, one that can step in now that's good enough to compete, and then one that can potentially replace them in three or four years.

“They haven't really done that in the past, but that would be a sensible option for me. That doesn't prove that it works, but they need a centre-half now, and they're going to need to replace another one in a couple of years.”

It is a blueprint Liverpool have often flirted with but rarely executed in central defence: overlap the generations, let the next leader learn alongside the current one, and avoid the cliff edge.

Right now, the cliff feels uncomfortably close.

Slot under strain, decisions looming

All of this unfolds against a backdrop of rising tension at Anfield.

A year on from delivering the Premier League title, Arne Slot finds himself under mounting pressure. The football has stuttered, the mood has soured, and the stands are beginning to voice their frustration with increasing volume.

Boos rang out again during the 1-1 draw with Chelsea, a result that left Liverpool clinging desperately to fourth place. Champions League qualification remains within reach, but it feels like a consolation prize for a squad that has fallen well short of expectations in 2025-26.

And so the next layer of uncertainty emerges: who actually makes these calls?

It is not yet clear who will be driving the defensive rebuild when the next transfer window opens. The manager’s position is under scrutiny, and talk of change in the dugout refuses to go away. Any shift on the touchline would collide directly with the need to reconstruct a back line that is running out of time and running out of legs.

Konaté edging towards the exit. Van Dijk edging towards 35. A fanbase edging towards impatience.

Liverpool can delay the conversation no longer. The only question now is whether they find the next defensive leader in time, or watch their recent past slip away faster than their future can be built.