Ibrahima Konate

[El Rojo]

If this guy could potentially help us to a league title, we should go all in for him over Kabak.
 

But I’d need guarantees, as I’d rather finish seventh than second and still have Kabak’s song. 

[Scott_M]

Schalke have been relegated. I think agreeing Konate shows Schalke we have an alternative, Kabak obviously won’t want to play in Bundesliga 2, I assume Kabak wants to stay with us - I reckon we can renegotiate a lower fee.

[joe_fishfish]

Given what we've all seen this season we'd be fucking stupid not to sign both of Konate and Kabak. Unless we've got someone better than Kabak lined up or something.

 

We need two centre backs to be signed, basically.

[Barrington Womble]

1 hour ago, joe_fishfish said:

Given what we've all seen this season we'd be fucking stupid not to sign both of Konate and Kabak. Unless we've got someone better than Kabak lined up or something.

 

We need two centre backs to be signed, basically.

The more I see of kabak, the more I like him. He's raw, but 6 months playing alongside VVD might fix that. Considering the risks there is in all transfers, he feels a pretty safe bet right now. Although I remember one time thinking that about Nicolas Anelka.

[Ronnie Whelan]

1 hour ago, Barrington Womble said:

The more I see of kabak, the more I like him. He's raw, but 6 months playing alongside VVD might fix that. Considering the risks there is in all transfers, he feels a pretty safe bet right now. Although I remember one time thinking that about Nicolas Anelka.

He's very good for his age. Deserves even more credit for essentially being on trial at a team in freefall when he came in. 

 

Put it like this, there probably isn't too many 20 year olds better than him.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

All our players haven’t turned shit in 12 months.

 

We have a good squad, and need to look for quality rather than quantity when we sign new players.

 

If we can bring in one top quality CB and the same at CF it will improve us a lot. Of course we need some squad maintenance in addition to that, but strengthening those two positions is vital, and where we need to put our effort and money.

[Scott_M]

[Scott_M]

[sir roger]

On the bench again for the cup final last night. Probably for the best as the Dortmund goals didn't make for happy viewing for Meccano and the others

[3 Stacks]

32 minutes ago, sir roger said:

On the bench again for the cup final last night. Probably for the best as the Dortmund goals didn't make for happy viewing for Meccano and the others

He'd be a project, no doubt. Hasn't played much in two years and has been on the bench a lot this season.

[El Dangerous]

I can’t wait to write him off and come up with a clever disparaging nickname after his first mistake. I’m going with Kuntnate.

[Dr Nowt]

He’s a fucking fraud, so Conate for me, Clive.

[VladimirIlyich]

3 hours ago, sir roger said:

On the bench again for the cup final last night. Probably for the best as the Dortmund goals didn't make for happy viewing for Meccano and the others

It's criminal that Nagelsmann was signed up by Bayern right before they sealed the title from Leipzig and their cup final. And while there's a case of 'serves Leipzig right' it's just so fuckin corrupt that that is allowed to happen.

[Trumo]

4 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

It's criminal that Nagelsmann was signed up by Bayern right before they sealed the title from Leipzig and their cup final. And while there's a case of 'serves Leipzig right' it's just so fuckin corrupt that that is allowed to happen.

 

They do shit like this all the time, and the other German clubs just accept it.

[TheHowieLama]

#NotWelcometoLiverpool

[3 Stacks]

5 minutes ago, Trumo said:

 

They do shit like this all the time, and the other German clubs just accept it.

It's not just Bayern. Dortmund months ago confirmed Marco Rose would become their manager next season and Gladbach have been terrible ever since.

[aws]

A season playing and training alongside the best will bring him on a treat. Big Virg and Nat will do wonders for him.  

[Sugar Ape]

Ibrahima Konate’s first coaches: ‘He’s serene, always listening and never makes the same mistake twice’

 

 

Ibrahima Konate was a forward struggling to carve out a niche for himself in the Paris FC youth ranks. His development in the under-11s had stalled. He needed some guidance.

 

Coach Reda Bekhti felt a change of role was required in order to unlock his true potential. It proved to be an inspired decision that put Konate on the road to stardom.

 

The 22-year-old centre-back will officially complete his £35 million move to Liverpool from RB Leipzig on July 1 after signing a five-year contract. Jurgen Klopp believes he has all the qualities required to form a commanding partnership with Virgil van Dijk, who is on the comeback trail after a ruptured ACL.

 

The Athletic spoke to those who helped launch Konate’s career in France before he made the switch to the Bundesliga to gain an insight into both the player and the man.

Nicknamed “Ibu”, he first came to Bekhti’s attention when he was playing for the amateur side Paris University Club.

 

Growing up in the French capital’s 11th arrondissement as one of eight children of immigrants from Mali in West Africa, he adored the Brazil legend Ronaldo. He would spend hours watching his goals on YouTube and initially dreamed of being a striker like him.

 

“He came for a trial at Paris FC and for me and the other coaches our first impression of him was that we saw a great deal of potential in him,” Bekhti tells The Athletic. “He was a tall, slender boy with strong athleticism and an interesting technique. At the time he was shy but with a good attitude. He wasn’t the talented player he is now.“

 

And what about that positional switch?

 

“After various meetings we asked ourselves questions about Konate’s positioning in attack,” Bekhti adds. “He had certain difficulties with that role and I decided after reflection to reposition him as a holding midfielder. Something just clicked. Suddenly, it was like he had played in this position forever. He played it with remarkable ease.“

 

Konate’s eye-catching performances as a defensive shield in front of the back four meant that scouts were soon flocking to watch him play.

 

Shortly after his 15th birthday, he moved to FC Sochaux’s academy, some 280 miles southeast of Paris, close to the Swiss border. The club had just been relegated from Ligue 1 but his family were impressed by their educational facilities. It was drummed into the youngster, who speaks fluent English, that he had to stay fully committed to his studies in case a professional career wasn’t forthcoming.

 

“A number of clubs followed him when he was here but it was Sochaux who were the most convincing and the quickest to offer him a contract,” says Bekhti. “When he left we were not sad to see him go. It was more a joy for us that he was joining Sochaux and taking the next step. We were so pleased for him. He’s one of the players that I feel very lucky to have coached during my career at Paris FC.”

 

It was the coaching staff at Sochaux who decided his aerial prowess, pace, strength and reading of the game was ideally suited to dropping further down the field and playing centre-back. He was selected to represent France under-16s and has been part of the international set-up ever since.

 

Albert Cartier was the manager who gave Konate his first-team debut at the age of 17 in a League Cup quarter-final against Monaco in January 2017. He rose to the challenge as the second-tier outfit were edged out 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Leonardo Jardim’s star-studded side.

 

“I first remember watching Ibrahima play for the under-16s team at Sochaux. He was serene to watch on the field and very mature,” recalls Cartier. “His first ‘grand bain’ (thrown in at the deep end) was against Monaco. They had the best attack at that moment in Ligue One and his opponent that day was Radamel Falcao.

 

 

Konate, No 31 for Sochaux, jogs back as they celebrate a goal in that cup game against Monaco

 

“In the preparation of that match I asked him a question: ‘If you were selected to play against Monaco how would you prepare yourself?’ He told me: ‘I would watch all the videos of my opponent, then turn off my phone and focus on my job’.”

 

Falcao came off the bench that day. Konate, who played the full game, also had Thomas Lemar and Bernardo Silva to contend with. His new Liverpool team-mate Fabinho was an unused substitute for Monaco, along with Kylian Mbappe.

 

Experienced full-back Pierre Gibaud was the Sochaux captain. He tells The Athletic: “When Ibrahima came to train with the first team for the first time I’d never seen him play before, but I’d heard that he was a young player coming through from the academy with a lot of potential.

 

“He got his chance because a lot of our defenders were injured at that time. What I discovered was a humble young man who showed big respect and was very good at listening and learning. He always wanted to improve.

 

“He was very polite. He called me ‘Monsieur’! He trained with the first team for maybe one week and after that he played the first game against Monaco. I was so impressed by how he performed. Very strong, very calm and very composed with the ball. He played like a player who was used to playing at that level every week.

 

“The other thing that struck me about Ibrahima was that he was so fast. I only needed to play one match alongside Ibrahima to know that he would become a very good centre-back because he had everything that a top centre-back needs.”

 

Konate remained with the first-team squad and was handed his league debut against Auxerre in February 2017. By the end of the 2016-17 season the 6ft 4in defender had clocked up 13 senior appearances for mid-table Sochaux.

 

“I’ll tell you what stands out for me, he never makes the same mistake twice,” says Cartier. “He is a competitor. He is always looking for performance and victory. He is always available and always listening.

 

“I worked with Kalidou Koulibaly at Metz and there are many similarities between Koulibaly and Konate. They both have high-level qualities.”

 

RB Leipzig swooped to sign Konate, who was out of contract, shortly after his 18th birthday in the summer of 2017. They beat off competition from Cologne, Lyon and Toulouse among others.

 

Ralf Rangnick, then Leipzig sporting director, declared: “He’s so good that he could play for Real Madrid or Barcelona one day.“

 

Over the past four years Bekhti, Cartier and Gibaud have continued to monitor his progress with interest. Konate clocked up a total of 95 appearances in all competitions for the Bundesliga club, who he recently thanked for “helping me grow up and become not only a better player, but a better man”.

 

 

Bekhti and Cartier still regularly exchange messages with the centre-back, who has been on Klopp’s radar since he made the breakthrough at Sochaux. The Athletic first revealed back in March that Liverpool were in advanced talks to sign Konate, who had a release clause of £35 million.

 

Signing an elite defender was always the priority for Klopp this summer after last season was derailed by serious injuries to Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip.

 

“The move to Liverpool doesn’t surprise me,” says Bekhti. “It is a logical continuation for his career. He has never stopped progressing from Sochaux to Leipzig and today to Liverpool.

 

“He has never stopped working to get there and I am very proud of him and his career. He is a humble and hardworking man — he deserves it. There’s great pride for me to have been able to contribute to his progress and his journey and to see him playing for such a big club like Liverpool next season will be a pleasure.”

 

Cartier adds: “There’s a motto that says it’s the man who makes the player and not vice-versa. He has the four commandments of Liverpool — show respect, be a competitor, think of the team first and always be an exemplary professional.

 

“At Liverpool he will learn a lot from the first time he trains with Klopp and plays with Van Dijk. They will learn together and complement each other well as a partnership.”

 

Gibaud, whose own career has taken him to Grenoble and Le Havre since leaving Sochaux, keeps in contact with his former team-mate via Instagram. He’s in no doubt that Konate can handle the pressure and scrutiny of life at Anfield.

 

“Ibrahima is still young but he’s already played at a really high level in big Bundesliga games and also in the Champions League so he’s ready,” says Gibaud. “He has learned a lot at Leipzig and I know he will prove to be a very important player for Liverpool. It’s good business by them.

 

“The Premier League is very physical but he has the stature and the strength to cope with that fine. Tall, fast and very good technically — what else do you want in a centre-back?

 

“He’s also a good boy who lives his life the right way and stays grounded. It will be so good for him to play with Van Dijk.

 

“In France, we have a lot of good young centre-backs but he’s played a lot for the under-21s already and in the coming years I expect him to become part of our senior national team.

 

“I will always keep a close eye on Ibrahima and I know he will continue to do great things. I wish him big success. I’ll be able to tell my children one day that I played in that first match with him.”

[M_B]

Can play as a holding midfielder too. Interesting. Is he doubling as Gini's replacement?

 

Quote

“After various meetings we asked ourselves questions about Konate’s positioning in attack,” Bekhti adds. “He had certain difficulties with that role and I decided after reflection to reposition him as a holding midfielder. Something just clicked. Suddenly, it was like he had played in this position forever. He played it with remarkable ease.“

 

Konate’s eye-catching performances as a defensive shield in front of the back four meant that scouts were soon flocking to watch him play.

 

[No2]

1 hour ago, Sugar Ape said:

 

“I’ll tell you what stands out for me, he never makes the same mistake twice,” says Cartier. “He is a competitor. He is always looking for performance and victory. He is always available and always listening.

 

“I worked with Kalidou Koulibaly at Metz and there are many similarities between Koulibaly and Konate. They both have high-level qualities.”

Racist

[m0e]

4 hours ago, M_B said:

Can play as a holding midfielder too. Interesting. Is he doubling as Gini's replacement?

 

 

That was when he was 15,  never at professional level.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

4 hours ago, M_B said:

Can play as a holding midfielder too. Interesting. Is he doubling as Gini's replacement?

 

 

Nope.

[Scott_M]

Looking forward to seeing him play.

[Numero Veinticinco]

8 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

Looking forward to seeing him play.

Yeah, could be excellent addition. 

[Bobby Hundreds]

The size of him, imagine him and VVD pairing up together.