Born in France, tall defender Ibrahima Konate joined Liverpool in the summer of 2021 after working for Sochaux and RB Leipzig.
He has been competing regularly with Joel Matip and has recently become the first choice to partner Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk.
The French center back, who can single-handedly handle the vast spaces that attacking right backs such as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Conor Bradley have moved up, revealed that he has been able to grow under the tutelage of world-class center back Van Dijk.
“Do the long ball!”
“No, honestly, I can take so many things off Virg because I consider him to be the best defender in world football.”
“I could make a long list of all the things that I’ve learned and I am still learning stuff from him, both in training and during games.”
“I can always improve and that is what you try to work on all the time. He has given me great advice and in some part that has helped me to become the player I am today.”
“He sees potential in me and wants me to become an even better defender.”
“I want to try to reach his level and why not sometime in the future even try to be better than him,”
matchday programme
The French defender, who will turn 25 this May, is expected to replace van Dijk, who is now 32, as the leader of the final line.
He will not only improve his individual defensive response, but also his ability to organize the back line, and under the new coach, he will develop into one of the best center backs in the world.