InterviewInspired Ibou Konate striving to build on 'big dream'

Which perhaps goes a long way to explaining why the centre-back’s motivation for the forthcoming season is stronger than ever, after a debut year at Anfield that he describes as ‘a big dream’.

Signed from RB Leipzig last summer, Konate integrated himself into Jürgen Klopp’s set-up swiftly enough to appear in almost half of the Reds’ 63 games in 2021-22, including 26 starts.

The last of those came in the Champions League defeat against Real Madrid in May, the final outing of a season that saw Liverpool lift the Emirates FA Cup and Carabao Cup while also narrowly missing out on the Premier League title.

Personal consolation for Konate soon arrived in the form of a first call-up to the France national team and subsequent debut for his country in June.

Plenty for the defender to be proud of, then, but certainly not to dwell on. As Liverpoolfc.com catches up with the No.5 in an extended interview, he is already gazing into the future, seeking success and self-improvement.

“I was very happy to be back,” he says of returning for pre-season. “The holiday was good, and long. I rested very well and a lot. I am very happy to be back to see the players and the new players.

“Last season was a great season but the end was not very good for us. This season, we come back with a lot of things and I hope we will do a great thing this season.

“Last season was a big dream. But I worked a lot for that. I think I deserve all of that. But what happened last season is behind me, now I am focused for the next season and for the future.”

As Klopp recently acknowledged, Liverpool’s last campaign did not truly end with the disappointment of the European Cup loss in Paris.

The conclusion – the abiding memory – was the end-of-season parade the following day, attended by 500,000 supporters and serving as both healing experience and inspiration refill.

Konate’s fluent English rarely skips a beat, but he’s briefly lost for words when asked to recall the impact that day had on him and his teammates.

“Oh my God, this was too much,” he smiles. “When we started, for me it was already crazy. When we started, the first 20 minutes I was very happy. After, I enjoyed it a lot but I was a little bit tired.

“After one or two hours I spoke with Divock and Ox and they said, ‘What? Are you happy now? OK, wait, you will see.’ I said, ‘What will I see?’ At the end, when we arrived in the city… [puffs out cheeks] I was really not ready for that. Oh my God. I will never forget this moment.

“Maybe yes, one of the best days of my life because how you can do that; in my head I imagined if we [had] won the Champions League…!

“It was a very, very great moment for me and my family and I hope we will enjoy it like that a lot of times with Liverpool.”

Among the many pleasing highs of Konate’s opening 12 months on Merseyside was his April scoring streak as he found the net in three successive appearances.

He broke the deadlock in each leg of the Champions League quarter-final versus Benfica and then set the Reds on their way to an Emirates FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester City with a towering header at Wembley.

And the 23-year-old has revealed how encouraging advice from Thiago Alcantara played a crucial role in his prolific run inside the opposition area.

“This was crazy,” said Konate. “It was good for the team, that’s more important. When I scored the first goal, after that I was confident. I hope this season I will score more than the last season.

“I spoke about this one time with Thiago in training and he told me, ‘When you go you have to believe. You are strong, you are big, you have to go.’ I said, ‘Yes, this is a good word for me.’ And I did it.”

Of course, Konate’s chief role when in the XI is to stop goals and it’s on that theme that we return to the subject of inspiration.

With an insatiable hunger to learn from those around him, the Parisian has ample role models to study in the likes of Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk.

Asked about playing alongside the latter, he said: “For sure I improved a lot with him. I improved with him because I learn about him, I look how he plays.

“But not only him, I learn with also Matip and Joe because we play in the same position. Everybody knows Virg is the best defender in the world and I look a lot at how he plays, how he thinks, before the game he knows a lot of players.

“I take inspiration from him and a lot of players in the world, but with him I have the chance to play with him and to train with him. I think it’s just the start and I hope year after year I will learn, learn, learn again.

“I hope one day I will be like him or better one day. I hope!”

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