Rio Ferdinand says £35m player is becoming a scapegoat at Liverpool now

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Liverpool were beaten by Crystal Palace once again on Saturday.

The Eagles are the only team who have managed to overcome Arne Slot’s men, with Oliver Glasner seemingly figuring out the best way to counter the Reds’ tactics.

At the moment, the Anfield outfit are still on top of the Premier League table and with their next game set to come against Galatasaray in the Champions League, it’s likely to be another difficult test.

Although most players have performed to a high standard this season, one or two haven’t quite hit the heights they were at last season.

Several members of Liverpool’s first-team squad could do with being changed around, with Rio Ferdinand now believing that a player the Reds brought in for £35million a few seasons ago is becoming a bit of a scapegoat.

Rio Ferdinand believes Ibrahima Konate is becoming Liverpool’s scapegoat

One of Liverpool’s players who hasn’t been at their best this term is Ibrahima Konate.

The centre-back has arguably been the Reds’ worst defender, but with Giovanni Leoni now injured and Joe Gomez still unreliable, the Frenchman is managing to keep his place in Slot’s starting XI.

Of course, there have been a couple of games here and there when Konate has performed to a decent standard, but most of the time, he’s been below par.

However, while speaking on his podcast, Ferdinand believes that he’s played well and is only getting as much stick from Liverpool fans due to his recent links with Real Madrid.

“There’s no way that Konate has a bad performance last season and he’s getting the headline treatment,” he said.

“It’s only because of the interest from Real Madrid, and there’s going to be disgruntled fans and meet people in the media that support Liverpool who are going to now start pointing the finger and blaming him.

“Or whenever there’s a little mistake here, and if there’s blame to be put between two people, he’ll probably get it now because of that situation.”

Liverpool must figure out what Ibrahima Konate is doing at the end of the season

At the moment, Konate is arguably one of the most high-profile players in the world who is out of contract at the end of the season.

Over the last few years, the defender has formed a formidable partnership with Virgil van Dijk, and although he hasn’t been at his best this term, on his day, he’s one of the best centre-backs in the league.

However, with fans knowing that he could just pack his things and leave for Real Madrid at the end of the season, much like Trent Alexander-Arnold, they’re likely to take most of their anger out on him.

Indeed, this doesn’t seem all that fair, but when another one of Liverpool’s players could end up joining Los Blancos for nothing, it’s fair for fans to be rather upset.

At the moment, it’s unclear what the future has in store, but for now, the main thing is that the Frenchman is still a Liverpool player.