Ibrahima Konate is expected to join Liverpool this summer after establishing a superb reputation in the Bundesliga over the last four seasons.
The France centre-back, who is currently representing his country at the UEFA U21 European Championship, has undergone a medical and agreed terms with the Reds. He will join the club on July 1 from RB Leipzig, subject to international clearance and a successful work permit application.
We profile the 22-year-old who will be Jürgen Klopp’s first signing for 2021-22, with help from German football analyst Raphael Honigstein.
Konate, who was born on May 25, 1999 in Paris, began his career with Paris FC before moving on to FC Sochaux in 2014.
As a teenage striker, he was effectively converted to a centre-back during his three-year stint on the east coast of the nation, and his professional career began to take off.
Ibrahima made his debut for Sochaux at the age of 17, filling in for the whole 1-1 Coupe de la Ligue tie with Monaco, for whom new Liverpool colleague Fabinho was on the bench.
The defender – known by the nickname Ibou – forced his way into the club’s Ligue 2 line-up the following month and went on to play 90 minutes on 11 occasions in the remainder of the season, a run that included his first senior goal.
Collectively, Sochaux were struggling for form; but their emerging No.33 had made enough of an impression to warrant serious interest from Leipzig, who secured his services on a free transfer in the summer of 2017.
He played alongside Reds midfielder Naby Keita and worked under the guidance of Ralph Hasenhuttl during his debut year with Die Roten Bullen, before Ralf Rangnick took the helm.
Konate made 95 appearances in all competitions for the Bundesliga outfit, with almost half of those coming during a 2018-19 campaign in which they finished third in the table – with the best defensive record – and were runners-up in the German cup.
“He is a very technical centre-back,” says Honigstein, who cites Ibrahima’s reading of the game, control of the penalty box, aerial ability, agility and physical presence as further key attributes.
“In terms of his development as a player, I think it has been pretty good if you consider the fact that was the first big club he played for and he has gone from a player that was picked up for free to a player seen as the solution to one of Liverpool’s problems next season.
“He is just a top, an absolute top player. If it’s true that centre-backs, a little bit like centre-forwards, tend to mature a little bit later – and I guess [Virgil] van Dijk is a very good example of that – then the ceiling is still very, very high for him.
“I think there’s a lot more he can achieve and he can personally aspire to. So, top buy, in my view.”
