1. Biography of Ibrahima Konaté
Ibrahima Konaté (born 25 May 1999) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Liverpool and the France national team.
Born in Paris, Konaté grew up on a council estate in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. He has Malian parents and is the youngest of eight children. Besides football, Konaté is also a fan of anime and manga, with Attack on Titan being his favorite.
Starting with Sochaux, Konaté moved to RB Leipzig in 2017. After four years with the club, Liverpool signed him in 2021 for a fee of £36 million. He won the EFL Cup and FA Cup in his first season.
Konaté was called up to the French national team for the first time on 4 June 2022. He made his international debut on 10 June in a 1–1 draw against Austria. On November 9, Konaté was on coach Didier Deschamps’ list to attend the 2022 FIFA World Cup and with the French team reached the final.
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Player Ibrahima Konaté
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2. Club playing career
2.1. Early career
As a child, Konaté played for the Paris FC youth team. At the age of 14, he went to Sochaux and joined their boarding academy. He started his career as a striker before switching to defense.
Konaté made his professional debut for Sochaux in a 1–0 Ligue 2 loss to Auxerre on 7 February 2017, at the age of 16.
2.2. RB Leipzig
After a successful debut season with 12 matches and 1 goal for Sochaux, Konaté joined RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga on 12 June 2017 on a five-year contract. Konaté scored his first goal for Leipzig in a 4–0 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf.
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| Ibrahima Konaté in the Leipzig club shirt |
2.3. Liverpool
On 28 May 2021, Liverpool announced that they had reached an agreement with RB Leipzig to buy Konaté on 1 July and were awaiting international customs clearance and a work permit. The club agreed personal terms with the player in April and activated a release clause of around £36 million in May 2021. On 18 September, Konaté made his Premier League debut. He started alongside Virgil van Dijk and kept a clean sheet in a 3–0 win over Crystal Palace. He made his second appearance of the season when he partnered Virgil van Dijk in the first Northwest Derby of the season. In that match, Liverpool defeated Manchester United 5–0. It was the heaviest defeat Liverpool had inflicted on United since 1895 and the heaviest defeat United had suffered without scoring since 1955. Konaté won much praise for the way he neutralizing star players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford, and also featuring in Garth Crooks’ team of the week, Crooks said “No frills or skill but he uses his strength and power to achieve maximum efficiency.”
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Ibrahima Konaté got off to a good start at Liverpool
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On 5 April 2022, Konaté scored his first goal for Liverpool, with a header in a 3–1 away win against Benfica in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Konaté missed the start of the 2022–23 season due to injury.
3. Playing style
Konaté has been compared to Virgil van Dijk thanks to his positional play, tackling, speed and strength. Guido Schafer said that: “he is tall, fast, good technique and he is a bit like Virgil van Dijk. He has huge potential. He is a great player, he has good speed and no silly tackles – he’s a smart player.” Konaté is also famous for his passing ability and aerial prowess.
