Three Liverpool legends have departed this summer, signalling the start of a new era at Anfield. There remains much sadness about Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson leaving, but slightly less has been saved for Ibrahima Konaté.
His move to Real Madrid, where he will be managed by José Mourinho, had been more than 12 months in the making. Seemingly distracted by this, the Frenchman's performances last season fell off a cliff, but this is not reserved for just when he was in a red shirt.
On Saturday evening (18 July), France and England played out the highest-scoring World Cup match since 1982, albeit admittedly in the third-place play-off. The Three Lions led 4-0 by half time, eventually prevailing 6-4 winners in Miami, with onlookers not impressed by Konaté's display.
Ibrahima Konaté's statistics vs England
Statistics | Ibrahima Konaté | Match rank |
|---|---|---|
Defensive actions | 1 | 24th |
Clearances | 1 | 14th |
Blocks | 0 | 7th |
Duels contested | 4 | 24th |
Duels won | 1 | 27th |
Accurate passes | 21 | 17th |
Touches | 27 | 22nd |
Match rating | 5.5 | 32nd |
Note: All statistics courtesy of SofaScore.
Before the match, Konaté declared "not one of us want to play this game for third place", and he was as good as his word, playing like this. The defender won just one of his four duels and offered basically zero to France's back-line, easily beaten for numerous England goals in the first half.
This was only his second appearance of the tournament, seeing 14 minutes off the bench during the dead-rubber group game against Norway in Foxborough beforehand. Didier Deschamps' first-choice centre-back pairing had been Dayot Upamecano alongside William Saliba, with Maxence Lacroix the man introduced against Spain when Saliba was withdrawn due to a back injury. Well, at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, Konaté underlined why he has tumbled down the pecking order, and watching Liverpool fans were not impressed.
Fan reaction to Ibrahima Konaté's performance vs England
- @AnfieldPapers: Florentino Pérez has CONTACTED Liverpool and asked for a REFUND on Ibrahima Konaté.
- @LFCLaurie: We should be ashamed for allowing Ibrahima Konaté to put us through an 18 month contract saga. He's genuinely honking.
- @BackseatsmanLFC: England had about 3 shots in that sequence before Konate even enters the screen.
This though is not a performance that will have surprised regular Liverpool watchers. Following December's shambolic 3-3 draw with Leeds at Elland Road, Arne Slot came out with one of the best quotes of the season:
"Unfortunately... he has been a bit too much at the crime scene. "Arne Slot on Konaté
The French centre-back made repeated basic errors throughout the entirety of last season, his defending best described as chaotic, which is never what you want. Having been a mainstay in the Liverpool team for five years, he should not be easy for compatriot Jérémy Jacquet, or anyone else the Reds sign this summer, to replace.
Nevertheless, Saturday's display in South Florida was a reminder that now was the right time to move on. It will be fascinating to monitor how Konaté gets on at Real Madrid.
Add us as a preferred source on Google