“There’s always hope” – Virgil van Dijk makes emphatic Liverpool contract plea to Ibrahima Konate

Virgil van Dijk remains hopeful that centre-back partner Ibrahima Konate will sign a new contract at Liverpool in the coming months.

The Frenchman is rapidly approaching the end of his current deal at Anfield, which expires at the end of June, and reports in January indicated that talks with club chiefs had stalled over the festive period.

Discussions on the 26-year-old’s future would understandably have taken a back seat after the recent death of his father, but now that the defender...