Fabrizio Romano: €35million clause to be triggered today but another deal has no "no chance”

Fabrizio Romano reports that Liverpool will trigger Ibrahima Konate's release clause today but that a deal to sign Ozan Kabak has “no chance”.

The Italian journalist wrote on Twitter: "There’s “no chance” for Ozan Kabak to stay at Liverpool - confirmed.

"He’s leaving the club and Schalke are looking to sell him in Premier League or Bundesliga. #LFC will trigger Ibrahima Konate’s release clause in the next hours and so Kabak will leave."

We reported at the start of the month that once Liverpool completed their Premier League campaign, they would finalise a deal to sign Konate and with the move a formality now, we've been proven right.

The RB Leipzig defender has all the tools to succeed at Anfield and more than that, we were told that the Bundesliga club's coaching staff believe he will one day be the best centre-back in the world.

Standing at 1.94m, the French 22-year-old will not struggle to deal with the physicality of the Premier League. In fact, his 76.62% aerial duel win rate is higher than Virgil van Dijk's (76.1%) in the season Liverpool won the Premier League.

His tackling could use some work, however, with his ground duel success rate sitting at just 52.73%, according to Squawka. For reference, van Dijk averaged a 69.57% win rate during the 2019/20 campaign.

Jurgen Klopp is overwhelmingly proud of Nat Phillips and young Rhys Williams for the way they helped carry Liverpool to third place this season. He said: “Let’s talk about them. How they played is absolutely incredible.

“The steps they made this year, they should be very proud because it’s an absolutely different level now, I have to say. That’s really nice to be a part of that.”

Despite their impressive displays, the difference between Liverpool finishing third on 69 points and the 17-point gap between them and Manchester City is having the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez at the back.

In fact, defenders of their quality are worth 30 points. The Reds got 99 points with them at the heart of defence in 2019/20 and with them missing, they finished on 69.

Konate's arrival, as we reported a few weeks ago, will seem him go straight into the starting lineup as Liverpool's medical team want to make sure that Gomez can take his time reaching full fitness as they are concerned about his patellar tendon injury.

A partnership of van Dijk and Konate is a scary prospect and Pep Guardiola will be fully aware of the tough task he has ahead if he hopes to retain the Premier League title next season.

Even if Liverpool don't win the title next season, there's no doubt they'll push City all the way with the squad they have.

And that's before any other arrivals.