Ibrahima Konaté

Ibrahima Konaté

Konaté playing for Liverpool in 2021
Personal information
Full name	Ibrahima Konaté
Date of birth	(1999-05-25) 25 May 1999 (age 24)
Place of birth	Paris, France
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Liverpool
Number	5
Youth career
2009–2014	Paris FC
2014–2017	Sochaux
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2016–2017	Sochaux II	9	(1)
2017	Sochaux	12	(1)
2017–2021	RB Leipzig	66	(2)
2021–	Liverpool	50	(0)
International career‡
2014–2015	France U16	12	(2)
2015–2016	France U17	7	(0)
2017	France U19	1	(0)
2018	France U20	1	(0)
2019–2021	France U21	13	(0)
2022–	France	14	(0)
Medal record Men's football Representing  France FIFA World Cup Runner-up 2022
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:59, 14 April 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:58, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Starting off 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.

Ibrahima Konaté was born on 25 May 1999 in Paris. He grew up on a council estate in the 11th arrondissement of Paris and is the second youngest of eight children born to parents from Mali. Outside of football, Konaté is a fan of anime and manga, with Attack on Titan being his favourite series.

Early career

Konaté played as a teen for Paris FC youth teams. When he was 14, he left for Sochaux and joined their boarding academy at the age of 15. He started his career as a striker before moving to the defence.

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.

RB Leipzig

 

After a successful debut season, with 12 games and 1 goal in half a season, Konaté joined RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga on 12 June 2017 on a five-year contract by free transfer. Konaté scored his first Leipzig goal in a 4–0 win against Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Liverpool

On 28 May 2021, Liverpool announced that they had reached an agreement with RB Leipzig to acquire Konaté on 1 July, pending international clearance and a work permit being granted. The club had already agreed personal terms with the player in April, and triggered his release clause of approximately £36 million in May 2021. On 18 September, Konaté made his Premier League debut, starting alongside Virgil van Dijk, and kept a clean sheet in a 3–0 victory against Crystal Palace. He made his second start of the season partnering Virgil van Dijk in the first North-West Derby of the season, in which Liverpool beat Manchester United 5–0. It was the heaviest defeat inflicted on United by Liverpool since 1895 and the heaviest defeat United had suffered without scoring in since 1955. Konaté won plaudits for how he handled star players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford, and featured in Garth Crooks' team of the week, with Crooks saying, "No frills or skills but he does use his power and strength to maximum effect."

On 5 April 2022, Konaté scored his first goal for Liverpool, a header in a 3–1 away win against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg.

Konaté missed the beginning of the 2022–23 season through injury.

Konaté received his first call-up to the senior France national team on 4 June 2022 for the UEFA Nations League, replacing Raphaël Varane due to injury. He made his full international debut on 10 June in a 1–1 draw against Austria. On 9 November, Konaté was included in Didier Deschamps's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where he helped France reach the final.

Konaté has been compared to Virgil van Dijk due to his positional play, tackling, pace and strength. Guido Schafer said that: "he is tall, fast, good technique and he is a little bit of Virgil van Dijk. He has very high-class potential. He is a great athlete, he has good speed and there are no silly tackles – he is an intelligent player." Konaté is also well known for his passing and strength in the air.

Club

As of match played 14 April 2024