Real Madrid are confident they can sign Ibrahima Konate on a free transfer next summer, according to sources in Spain.

The Liverpool defender has a similar situation to Trent Alexander-Arnold this time last year – out of contract at the end of the season with the 15-time champions of Europe courting him and putting pressure on him to not renew his deal at Anfield.

Confidential has spoken to multiple sources in the Spanish capital and they have told us that Real are growing in confidence in tempting Konate, 26, to join them. Any overseas club can formally speak to Konate from January 1 when he enters the final six months of his contract.

The same sources told us last December that Alexander-Arnold would almost certainly join the Madrid giants and some have gone as far to suggest this week that senior club staffers have openly discussed how they believe they are close to a verbal agreement with Konate.

It is understood, though, that the defender has not communicated any desire to leave to Liverpool at this stage and the player has not yet fully made up his mind. Liverpool opened contract talks with their centre back last November but no deal has yet been struck.

Konate spoke to journalists twice at the end of last season where he said: ‘To win a trophy was just amazing. And today, to win the Premier League, I know I have a lot of objectives with this club: to become a leader, to win everything. I am very happy here.

‘But I know where you want to go with this question and this is another conversation with the club and my agent, we will see what will happen in the next few weeks or I don't know when but we will see, let me say that.

‘Is it progressing? Not really but my agent met the club last week but I don't know what will happen.’

Konate then added fuel to the flames this week when he appeared on French TV and joked about national team colleague and friend Kylian Mbappe ‘calling me every two hours’ to tempt him to join Madrid.

Liverpool remain committed to striking an agreement with Konate, and as far as the club are concerned the situation is unchanged. They have had no communication from Konate’s camp that he wants to leave.

Reds scout Robinho!

Liverpool have had a scout present at a number of the matches of Brazilian giants Santos this year - and Confidential understands they are there to keep an eye on the son of former Real Madrid and Manchester City star Robinho.

Robinho Jnr, 17, is on the verge of the first team at the Sao Paulo club whose famous ex-players include Pele, Neymar and Rodrygo, to name just three.

Reds scout Dassler Marques has been present at many games this season watching Robinho Jnr despite the fact he is often a substitute. Neymar, who returned to Santos last year, has been spending a lot of time with the teenager on the pitch.

Robinho Snr, who joined City in 2008, scored 81 goals in 180 games for his boyhood club before securing a big-money move to Real Madrid in 2005. He returned twice to Santos later in his career, also representing AC Milan. His son is now wearing his No 7 shirt at Santos. 

Chelsea are also keeping an eye on Robinho Jnr, with their South American scouting team led by Alysson Marins, the former Corinthians chief talent-spotter.

As father Robinho is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in Brazil for a rape committed in 2013, Santos are protective of their next-best star getting in the spotlight too much, especially given other sensitive headlines around the family. His mother is his de facto agent, and he has a reported £43million release clause.

But Liverpool and other scouts are keeping an eye and it could be one to watch as the Premier League champions continue to look to buy the best young players on the market.

Frimpong back in contention

Jeremie Frimpong is hoping to be passed fit to play against Burnley on Sunday after returning to training this week.

As revealed by Confidential three weeks ago, Frimpong suffered a hamstring injury and subsequently missed games against Newcastle and Arsenal, plus the Netherlands’ international camp.

He remained in north-west England and was in the AXA Training Centre for rehabilitation work. In fact, he was present to greet Alexander Isak when he signed for the club on Deadline Day.

Frimpong is training again and hoping to be fit enough to make the squad for the trip to Burnley.

Fellow right back Conor Bradley enjoyed a positive camp for Northern Ireland where they gave Germany and Florian Wirtz a good game. Both right backs being back up to speed is a big boost for Arne Slot.

Bajcetic nearing fitness

Stefan Bajcetic is getting closer to match fitness and joining full training sessions after a lengthy period on the treatment table – and Confidential understands he could be set for some game-time with the Under 21s in the coming weeks.

The Spaniard, who spent last year on loan at RB Salzburg and Las Palmas, is admired by Slot and the manager asked him to stay put this year despite interest from around Europe with Celta Vigo particularly keen.

He underwent hamstring surgery in May and has been in recovery mode ever since, failing to make the pre-season tour of Asia for this reason.

Bajcetic, still only 20, could feature for Rob Page’s Under 21s side. They are next in action against Manchester United a week on Sunday.

Time for a new Page

Speaking of Page, the former Wales boss will be in charge of the UEFA Youth League campaign this season with Under 18s head coach Simon Wiles as his assistant.

The Under 19s begin their Youth League campaign on Wednesday when they host Atletico Madrid at Kirkby. It’s a 3pm kick-off for anyone with a free afternoon before the senior teams’ clash in the evening at Anfield.

Briggs’s big task

Aaron Briggs has a big task on his hand after last week moving roles to become set-piece coach.

The former Manchester City staffer has been part of Slot’s staff since day one and has been balancing set-pieces with a player development role which has now been filled by Luiz Fernando Iubel, who joined from Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro earlier this month.

But Liverpool fans have bemoaned their lack of threat from set-pieces, so Briggs has work to do.

Since the start of last season, the Reds are middling for both goals scored (13th in the table with 11) and goals conceded (12th with 11) from set-plays, while they have created an xG of 10.74, a stat dwarfed by Arsenal’s 19.21.

A new option to solve Marseille travel nightmare

Liverpool fans wishing to jet out to Marseille for the final away game of this season’s Champions League group stage on January 21 have been met by a bit of a travel nightmare.

There are no direct flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport the day before the game and airfare website SkyScanner does not even display any with one changeover.

The best route the day before the game would be to either change flights twice, stopping off in Dublin or Madrid, or to go down to London and get the Eurostar. Even then it is a three-hour train from Paris to southern France. There are similar issues from Manchester Airport.

However Confidential understands easyJet have eased the headache slightly by putting on a special flight from Liverpool to Marseille at 8am on the day of the game, returning the following lunchtime. It does cost at least £347, though!

New arrival at the AXA

Is this the latest sign of cooperation between Fenway Sports Group stable-mates?  

There is a new display on the walls inside the AXA Training Centre – but it is less than 10 per cent complete. And no, it's not just a shabby job by the maintenance team. 

There are three picture boards on the display so far, each with a moment from Liverpool’s first three games with memorable moments such as Rio Ngumoha’s last-minute winner at Newcastle and Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick against Arsenal.

A similar method was employed by the Boston Red Sox during their historic 2018 season, when they put a picture of each of their 108 regular-season wins and 11 play-off victories as they steamrollered their way to their fourth World Series title of the 21st century. It remains the most wins that the Red Sox have ever recorded in their 125-year history. A good omen for Liverpool?

Whether there will be a picture from each Reds game or just big moments, or just from wins, is unknown, but it is a nice touch and must be inspiring for the players to see every day.

Willem the conquerors

Virgil van Dijk’s first club, Willem II, unveiled a tribute to their greatest son this week by naming the club’s youth stand after the Liverpool captain, who spent 11 years in their academy.

Van Dijk and his family were present on Saturday as the new tribune and plaque, with a portrait montage of the Dutchman, were revealed. He will be back later this year as the founder of the Virgil’s Legacy Trophy youth tournament.

But Van Dijk is not the only Liverpool great to play for Willem, who play in the Dutch city of Tilburg. Another former Reds captain Sami Hyypia played 105 times for them, while a certain Alexander Isak was also there on loan from Borussia Dortmund in 2018-19. Fourteen goals in 18 games for the Swede. Where’s his stand?

…but Isak irks locals

Speaking of Isak, the new Liverpool man has wound up some Sweden fans as well as those Newcastle supporters who called him every slur under the sun.

Isak managed a cameo appearance off the bench during Sweden’s 2-0 defeat to Kosovo on Monday and did not feature at all against Slovenia.

One fan wrote on X: ‘If we fail to qualify for the World Cup, it will be down to Alexander Isak and Liverpool Football Club. He put going on strike to earn more money ahead of staying fit enough to represent his country.’

Isak’s outing this week was his first since late May. He will train with his new team-mates for the first time this week and will be in contention to make the squad against Burnley – but it is highly unlikely he will start, given his lack of match fitness.

King Kenny on the big screen

Sir Kenny Dalglish will soon be the subject of a documentary directed by the brains behind award-winning feature films about Amy Winehouse, Diego Maradona and Ayrton Senna.

All three of those are splendid documentaries so this will be well worth a watch. It premieres in cinemas on October 29 and will be released on Amazon Prime the next week, featuring interviews with the Dalglish family, Graeme Souness and Alan Hansen.

Director Asif Kapadia said: ‘Dalglish was my hero as a kid and I had his picture on my wall where I grew up. I wanted to make this film for people like me who remember Kenny as a player, the Celtic, Liverpool and Scottish fans.

‘But also for my kids’ generation who only know Kenny from playing Fifa. They know the name but they have never seen how good he was as a player or, more importantly, what he did off the pitch for the people of Liverpool. Kenny was the leader who always stepped up.’