Gonçalo Ramos and Kang-in Lee allowed to leave PSG
Gonçalo Ramos (23) and Lee Kang-in (24) will be allowed to leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer, according to a report from L'Équipe.
The pair have featured sparingly throughout the campaign. Ramos suffered an ankle injury in the first game of the season, which sidelined him for several months. He has nonetheless gone on to make 41 appearances in all competitions, scoring 18 goals in that time, however, starts have been hard to come by. Luis Enrique has preferred Ousmane Dembélé in the No.9 position this season.
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Lee also has 45 appearances in all competitions, but like Ramos, he has started rarely. He has just four starts in the UEFA Champions League and he hasn't been included in the starting XI during the knockout phases of the competition. Both have contracts that run until 2028 but will be allowed to leave, for the right price, this summer. Following their triumph in the Champions League, they are under no obligation to sell.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
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New York Times
an hour ago
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Ibrahima Konate interview: ‘Slot's Liverpool philosophy is different to Klopp's, but he didn't ask me to change'
Like everyone who watched last weekend's Champions League final, Ibrahima Konate could not fail to be impressed by Paris Saint-Germain's five-star performance. But as he watched Vitinha and company cut elegant swathes through a bewildered Inter at Munich's Allianz Arena, there was a nagging disappointment. Advertisement 'I enjoyed it, like any football fan,' he says. 'We were all looking forward to it because it was a Champions League final. But I would have liked to be there with my team!' Unlike the majority of people who tuned in, Konate knows what it is like to play against this PSG team, having finished on the wrong side of a penalty shootout defeat against them with Liverpool in the round of 16 in March. While the knowledge that his side fell to the tournament's eventual winners provides a crumb of comfort, it has only stiffened his determination to come back and win the competition next season. And that will not be his only objective. 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From that point on, the objective in my head was clear: I wanted to win everything this season and leave no stone unturned. Give nobody a chance, whether that's the rivals for my position or my opponents. And that's pretty much what happened. 'I'm very happy with the season we had. Even though we would have liked to go a bit further in the Champions League. We can be sad about that, but it came during a period when we weren't at our best and a lot of fatigue had built up. In the end, we're happy to have ended up with the Premier League.' From the title-sealing 5-1 thrashing of Tottenham to the trophy presentation at Anfield on the season's final day, the sun seemed to be permanently shining on Liverpool in the campaign's closing weeks, only for darkness to descend during their end-of-season parade when a car ploughed into supporters in the city centre, leaving 109 people injured and four people in hospital, according to the latest police statement. 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Konate already knows he will have a new partner alongside him on the right side of defence after Jeremie Frimpong was brought in from Germany's Bayer Leverkusen to replace the Real Madrid-bound Trent Alexander-Arnold. Konate is a fan of the ultra-attacking Netherlands international and is confident he will quickly find his feet. 'I think the coach's instructions to him will be clear because we'll do lots of video work,' he says. 'The fact he's signed for us means he must have spoken to the coach a lot, so he'll know what the coach expects from him. 'It'll be different with him compared to Trent. That's for sure, because they're different players. But I'm happy for him. He's a good person, very funny, and I wish him every happiness at Liverpool when he arrives. I have no worries about him.' Konate watched the first half of the Champions League final with some of his France team-mates in the Clairefontaine dining room before retiring to his room to watch the second half alone. 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PSG winger Bradley Barcola, 22, and Bayern Munich's Michael Olise, 23, have impressed recently, while 21-year-old Lyon playmaker Rayan Cherki could make his hotly-anticipated senior debut in Thursday's Nations League semi-final against European champions Spain. 'They bring a lot of quality and a lot of freshness,' says Konate, who at 26 is already acquiring the air of an elder statesman within the squad. 'If the coach has picked them, it's because they can add something extra to the squad. Rayan has only just arrived, so we shouldn't put too much pressure on him, but I have no worries about him, to be completely honest. 'Doue, I think we saw when he came on against Croatia (in the Nations League quarter-finals in March) the huge qualities he has and the great confidence in himself that he has. Olise arrived a little while ago and we've all seen his qualities, whether it's from set pieces or technically in open play. 'There's now lots of competition for those positions, and that's good. Because when there's competition, no one can afford to ease up.' First capped at senior level in June 2022, Konate spent the whole of last summer's European Championship on the bench before starting all but one of the autumn's Nations League group games, captaining France to a 3-1 win over Italy at San Siro in Milan. He then lost his place to Dayot Upamecano after a shaky first-half display in the first leg of that quarter-final away to Croatia, who won the game 2-0. With both Upamecano and William Saliba absent through injury, Konate is expected to start tonight in the German city of Stuttgart, when France will seek to avenge last summer's 2-1 loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 semi-finals. Deschamps is entering the final 12 months of his glittering France tenure. The 56-year-old announced in January that he will step down after next year's World Cup following 14 years at the helm, and Konate is determined to give his coach the best possible send-off. Advertisement 'Fourteen years with the national team is exceptional,' he says. 'Most of the players who are here have grown up with Deschamps at the head of the France team. In 2012 (when Deschamps was appointed), I was 13. So I hadn't even joined an academy. I was living in the 11th (arrondissement; a district of northeastern Paris) and playing (youth football) for Paris FC. And today he's my coach in the France national team! 'We know all good things come to an end, but his record is magnificent. The best way to thank him and to say goodbye would be to make sure we finish on a good note.' Whether it be repaying Deschamps with a fitting farewell in the United States next summer or going a step further under Slot with Liverpool, Konate is setting himself up for a big 2026.
