Deal for £34m giant close to completion and has been on the cards since mid-February

Liverpool are finalising a deal for RB Leipzig's Ibrahima Konate, according to David Ornstein, and Michael Mongie explains why his injury record isn't an issue.

The 1.94m defender has been identified as a player that the Reds are keen on adding to their ranks. He has a €40million (£34m) release clause that the Reds will activate this summer as we reported in mid-February.

A source close to Anfield Central revealed that Liverpool were working hard to get a deal in place for Konate before the end of the season and it seems as though world-renowned sporting director Michael Edwards has worked his magic once again.

Injuries to Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, amongst others, ruined Liverpool's chances of defending their Premier League crown but despite the disappointing season, the Anfield outfit is readying themselves for the 2021/22 season.

While Dayot Upamecano has received the majority of the plaudits at RB Leipzig, his partner in crime, Konate, is just as exciting and at 1.94m (6ft3), he seems to be Liverpool's way of dealing with Joel Matip's continued injury woes.

While the young French defender has had his own injuries this season, spending 154 days on the sidelines at the time of writing, it's not as serious as it seems at face value.

Of the 96 days of the total 154 that he spent out of contention for competitive football, a large portion was during the summer break and he missed just 9 games - the equivalent of missing the entirety of the festive fixture list in England which is just 30 days.

While it remains to be seen how Jurgen Klopp will deal with having four world-class centre-backs in van Dijk, Gomez, Matip and now Konate, it's a far cry more encouraging than this season's options.

Nathaniel Phillips and Ozan Kabak have been fantastic recently but even they will understand they cannot compete with the likes of van Dijk.