30/05/2026

SPORTS SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2026

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I B RAHIMA KO N ATE is reportedly set to leave Liverpool as the defender’s contract at Anfield comes to an end. The radio station talkSPORT reported yesterday that the Frenchman is to depart the Reds. Konate’s contract is winding down this year and it was previ ously reported that the 27-year-old would be signing a long-term deal. However, if reports are to be believed – and Sky Sports are claim ing the same – he will be the latest high-profile departure from Anfield this season with Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson leaving the club. Konate’s potential exit signals further change at Liverpool with Salah and Robertson’s respective exits coming hot on the heels of the departures of fellow 2024/25 Premier League title winners Trent Alexander-Arnold, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz a year ago. It also thrusts Liverpool into the market for a centreback this year when their main priority is signing a winger. The Reds got ahead of the game a year ago by bringing in Giovanni Leoni from Parma for around £27 million (RM140m) but he suffered the cruelest of blows when he ruptured his anterior cru ciate ligament on debut in August. Liverpool could look to make a move to bring back Jarell Quansah from Bayer Leverkusen a year after they sold him to the German side. Quansah has excelled in the Bundesliga and is in the England squad for the upcoming World Cup. If Konate were to leave, it would be an about turn from the expected scenario of him signing a new deal. Only as recently as last month did the defender hint a new contract was in the offing after speaking to Reds sporting director Richard Hughes. “To be fair, there are many things people have said but for a long time we have spoken with the club and we are close to an agree ment,” he said. “I think everyone wished for that for as long as possible but we are in a good way. For sure there is a big chance I’m here next season, this is what I always wanted. “I’m waiting to sort the contract but when everything is sorted you will have to ask Richard what I said to him in September, November and he’s going to say something to make everyone quiet.” Konate’s father passed away in January and the defender spoke after the 2-1 win at Everton in April about how it affected him. “It was a tough year and I think if everyone knew exactly what happened to me, they could understand many things, which kind of sacrifices I’ve done for this club,” he added. “Right now we focus on the end of the season and make sure we are qualified for the Champions League and after we take the time to talk about the season because it’s going to be a big part of my story and it’s sad in one part.” – Express Newspapers Konate ‘set to leave Liverpool’

How to fix Spurs Tottenham could have an opportunity to start fresh under De Zerbi

Tottenham’s James Maddison reacts during a recent English Premier League match. – REUTERSPIC

Ű BY RICHARD JOLLY

With the highly-rated Luka Vuskovic earning a place in the Bundesliga team of the season while on loan at Hamburg, there are reasons to bring him back and sell Radu Dragusin. Further forward, Randal Kolo Muani’s unsuc cessful loan offers no grounds to buy him. But Joao Palhinha, whose winners at Wolves and against Everton kept Spurs up, provides more of a dilemma. Bought as a destroyer, the Portuguese provided important goals and wants to turn his loan into a long-term deal. Yet Spurs already have a host of workmanlike midfielders, even with the out-of-con tract Yves Bissouma another possible departure. A problem for the three managers this season was that the side lacked creativity. Much of that could be chalked up to injury, with neither Maddison nor Dejan Kulusevski starting a game, Mohammed Kudus’s campaign being curtailed in January, and then Xavi Simons rupturing his cruci ate ligament in April. The Dutchman will miss a chunk of next season. De Zerbi nevertheless faces a decision on which of his flair players to prioritise and how to accommo date them. A season in which Palhinha was the club’s sec ond top scorer in the Premier League and Micky van de Ven the joint second best in all competitions sug gests Spurs could do with more firepower from the forward line. That might not be cheap. At least De Zerbi’s pre ferred style of play, attacking and ambitious, seems in Tottenham’s truest traditions. And the Italian could suddenly be in an advanta geous position. A manager who can use time on the training ground to alter a style of play and whose sides can overwhelm opponents when fitter and fresher will have no Europe, perhaps only 40 games. Tottenham may only need a relatively small pool of players next season, if they can keep them fit and make the right choices in the transfer market and selection. Brighton played 46 games in 2022-23 and, with no one who could really be called a De Zerbi signing, he steered them to sixth. There was the risk Tottenham would play 46 next year in the Championship alone. Charrington’s promise to get them back where they belong was a recognition at boardroom level that Spurs had lost their way. But at least, when they did, they were not found in the Football League. – The Independent

instructive, especially as Spurs have three leftbacks, in Destiny Udogie, the versatile Djed Spence and the winter arrival Souza. The Scotland captain is expected to go to North London – which carries the assumption De Zerbi shares the interest in a deal proposed before his arri val – and would look the obvious candidate for the armband; the love for him at Liverpool spoke to his character. James Maddison, a galvanising force even when semi-fit at the end of the season, could make a fine deputy to him. As for Romero, he should be sold. For all his undeniable ability on the ball, while he excelled in the Europa League triumph, Spurs may be better off without him. The suggestion is that another Argentinian, Marcos Senesi, is headed to replace him, fresh from a fine season with Bournemouth and on a free trans fer. It appears, too, that De Zerbi is interested in a host of his former Brighton charges, in goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, midfielder Carlos Baleba and cen treback Jan Paul van Hecke, with John Stones an alternative possibility as a ball-playing defender. A complication and a consequence might be that Tottenham could need to reduce their squad size and bring in money. In Charrington’s letter, he promised to build a squad to compete at the highest levels in England and Europe and spend in multiple windows. The books could also have to be balanced. Consecutive 17th-place finishes mean far lower Premier League income than anticipated, and they will not be in Europe next season. Fans have often bemoaned their famously low wages-to-turnover ratio. It has led to accusations Spurs have not invested in the squad. Yet they have spent about £700 million (RM3.85b) in the last four years; they made a pre-tax loss of £121 million (RM630m) last season. They could owe over £250 million (RM1.3b) in transfer fees. So a clearout is required, especially given that this is an underachieving team. Guglielmo Vicario is one possible departure, especially after Antonin Kinsky overcame his trau matic trip to Madrid to end the season in fine form. The Czech’s passing skills make him seem a bet ter fit for a De Zerbi team. If Robertson arrives, the injury-prone Udogie could be the logical left-back to leave. The out-of-contract Ben Davies, a loyal ser vant but another who has been sidelined, might also go.

T HOMAS FRANK had called the task at Tottenham akin to turning around a super tanker. Instead, Spurs almost sank. Roberto De Zerbi just about kept them afloat in the Premier League. The non-executive chairman Peter Charrington was nonetheless compelled to write an open letter to supporters saying their last two League finishes were “not acceptable”. He didn’t mean the fourth place they occupied at the end of the Champions League’s league phase. Seventeenth again, ole, ole? Spurs could cele brate survival last Sunday whereas, with the bottom three distanced last season, their finishing position felt academic. That could have been called a one-off – and did seem to be when Frank’s team were among the early-season pacesetters – whereas now the first tar get could be summed up in two words: never again. De Zerbi’s job feels physical and psychological; his tactics, both on and off the field, and transfers can influence it. Over the last two seasons, Spurs have lost 47 games, 39 of them in the Premier League. Ange Postecoglou needs to shoulder some of the blame: losing became a habit on his watch. They need to shed the culture of defeats; in particular, after just three victories in their last 22 home League games, they need to rediscover the habit of winning at their deluxe stadium. They could do with keeping their players fit, too. One table Spurs did top was the number of days footballers lost to injury. That cannot all be chalked up to misfortune and was a reason why, despite having one of the largest squads in the division, they seemed to have one of the smallest. They were often short of options in key positions. De Zerbi provided a sure hand at the tiller of the supertanker, but Tottenham suffered from a crisis of leadership; and not just Frank’s flailing attempts to prevent being dragged under water or Igor Tudor’s appearance, as the “ferryman” of Serie A looked more like the captain of the Titanic. Cristian Romero was an awful choice as skipper, his sendings-off and suspensions, injuries and inter est in the Argentinian fixture list meant he often led by the wrong sort of example. The January interest in Andy Robertson was