The international break has gone. What’s left for Liverpool now is a sprint – and a delicate balancing act.
An FA Cup showdown with Manchester City on Saturday. A trip to Paris to face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League four days later. All of it under the shadow of a bigger, colder truth: next season’s Champions League place is non‑negotiable for a club about to lose Mohamed Salah and head into another major rebuild.
Every result will matter. So will every transfer decision.
Schlotterbeck leans toward Dortmund
In Germany, the picture around Nico Schlotterbeck is hardening.
Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg reports that Borussia Dortmund and the defender have agreed the details of a new contract, with the numbers “won’t change significantly” from what has already been discussed. Dortmund, the report says, are simply waiting for Schlotterbeck’s final approval.
On the surface, that jars with the player’s own words. Asked this week about talk of an extension through to 2031, Schlotterbeck pushed back.
“I must clearly deny that. Unfortunately, we haven't reached that point,” he said.
The tension between public denial and private progress is familiar territory in contract sagas. What does seem clear is that Dortmund’s internal reshuffle has slowed, not stopped, the process. Nils-Ole Book has just replaced Sebastian Kehl as sporting director, and that change appears to have delayed the final signatures rather than blown the deal apart.
For Liverpool, the message is blunt. If there was ever a window to move for Schlotterbeck, it is closing fast.
Any serious push would also collide with another decision: Ibrahima Konaté’s future. If the Frenchman signs a new deal at Anfield, the urgency for a high-end centre-back drops. The club would then be choosing between adding depth and reshaping a core position that might already be locked in for the long term.
Right now, all signs point to Schlotterbeck staying put in Dortmund yellow rather than walking out at Anfield.
Kounde on the radar as right-back issues bite
If centre-back feels like a “maybe,” right-back is starting to look like a problem that needs solving.
Mundo Deportivo reports that Liverpool are among three Premier League clubs monitoring Jules Kounde, with Manchester City and Chelsea also in the frame. The focus is clear: a strong defensive full-back to complement last summer’s attacking signing of Jeremie Frimpong.
Kounde, tied to Barcelona until 2030 after signing a new deal last summer, is not being pushed toward the exit. But the financial reality in Catalonia always lurks in the background. The report suggests Barca would find it “difficult to refuse” an offer in the region of €80 million ($93m).
That is elite-money territory. It is also the going rate for a defender who can lock down a flank in the biggest games.
From Liverpool’s perspective, the logic is easy to trace. Conor Bradley and Frimpong’s recurring injury problems are no longer a minor irritation; they are a structural concern. The knock-on effect has been stark: Dominik Szoboszlai, one of the most dynamic midfielders in the squad, dragged out of the middle to plug gaps at right-back.
He is far too valuable in central areas to be used as a permanent fix on the outside.
Kounde would change that equation. A defender comfortable at centre-back and right-back, tactically disciplined, and battle-tested at the highest level, he fits the profile of a signing that doesn’t just add numbers but raises the ceiling of the back line.
The price, the competition from City and Chelsea, and Barcelona’s stance will dictate how far Liverpool can push. But the interest alone underlines where the club sees one of its next big upgrades.
With Salah heading for the exit and the season hanging on a tightrope of knockout ties and top-four pressure, Liverpool’s defensive choices this summer won’t just shape a back four. They will decide how ready the club is for life after one of its greatest modern players.
