Connect with us

NewsNow

22-year-old with just 5 Premier League appearances now has 3 goals in 3 games for Liverpool

Ibrahima Konate celebrates with Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita and Roberto Firmino

Liverpool are now blessed with a deep squad and this is evidenced by Ibrahima Konate’s form in his last three games.

It’s not best practice to assess a centre-back by looking at his goalscoring form but three goals in three appearances is a streak any player in any position would like to build upon.

Ibrahima Konate

The importance of his attacking contributions is worth a reminder as the former RB Leipzig star scored in back-to-back Champions League quarterfinal legs against Benfica.

He may have mistimed his clearance in the first leg, gifting the clinical Darwin Nunez a goal, but since then, he has barely put a foot wrong and followed that up by towering above the Benfica defence again in the second leg to score.

His next game came against none other than Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final win at Wembley, opening the scoring as the Reds flew into a 3-0 first-half lead to shock Pep Guardiola and his players.

Ibrahima Konate

He only has 8 Premier League appearances, 5 Champions League displays, 4 in the triumphant League Cup campaign and 5 in the FA Cup so it’s been difficult to find consistency.

Yet, while he has made mistakes here and there, every time he plays, he impresses. Konate has consistently shown his recovery pace which has more than made up for his developing sense of positioning which sometimes leaves the Reds exposed in their high line.

Yet, at 22, expectations always needed to be tempered despite RB Leipzig staff claiming he could one day become the best centre-half on the planet which underlines why they made a significant effort to keep him.

Ibrahima Konate and Jurgen Klopp

As the compilation embedded below from @PassLikeThiago on Twitter shows, his first season at Anfield has been impressive and certainly indicative of what fans should expect next season.

It was a major show of faith from Klopp to start Konate at Wembley but he repaid that within 17 minutes when his header found the back of the net, leaving the hapless Zack Steffen stranded.