In 2018-2019, Konate was one of the Bundesliga’s best
The Bundesliga is known as a very attacking league, but they’ve produced some fine center backs over the years. Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate are both highly coveted, but so is Wolfsburg’s Maxence Lacroix. And Ozan Kabak was seemingly high on Paolo Maldini’s list before joining Schalke and then Liverpool on loan.
Out of all these center backs, Konate was the first one to truly break out. He was one of the elite center backs in the 2018-2019 Bundesliga season before he suffered a significant injury that next season and lost his place to Upamecano again.
Konate had a great battle with Robert Lewandowski in the Ruckrunde of that season. He was just a teenager, yet he played like a seasoned pro and was one of RB Leipzig’s true standout players. According to WhoScored.com, he averaged 1.6 tackles per game, 2.1 interceptions per game, and was dribbled past 0.4 times per game. Those are jaw-dropping numbers for a player that young.
At the time, Konate did have one big weakness, and that was his ball-playing ability with just 76 percent of his passes completed. Compare that to Upamecano, whose progressive passing made him as highly regarded in 2019-2020 as Konate was in 2018-2019.
Now, Konate is an underrated commodity, but he is a better pure defender than Upamecano. His 2018-2019 season is a clear sign of the quality Konate has. Liverpool could be getting a special player if this transfer goes through.