DONE DEAL: Ibrahima Konate is a Red!
Welcome to Liverpool, Ibrahima!
Liverpool have officially completed the signing of Ibrahima Konate for £35m, who will join on 1st July pending the approval of his work permit application.
The Reds had been long linked to the RB Leipzig star, with the club’s injury crisis in the campaign just gone highlighting the need for quality defensive options beyond our starting duo.
“I’m really happy to be joining such a massive club like Liverpool,” the Frenchman told liverpoolfc.com.
“It’s a really exciting moment for me and my family and I am really looking forward to meeting my new teammates, the staff and getting started on this new chapter.
“Right now, my focus is on the U21 European Championships with France, but after this competition I know I will be joining one of the best teams in the world and that gives me a great feeling.
“I have worked very hard for many years to get to this point, but I would like to say a big thank you to everyone at RB Leipzig and all the people I worked with there – the coaches, my teammates, the staff and especially the fans.”
With the long-term sidelining of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez effectively ending the club’s title challenge, we at the EOTK could not be more delighted to see our defensive concerns being addressed with the acquisition of one of Europe’s hottest talents.
Provided that they can all remain fit, with the likes of Van Dijk, Gomez, Joel Matip, and, now, Konate available for selection, we’ve got some remarkable depth in the heart of the backline that’s genuinely rivalled by very few other sides.
“I’m really pleased we’ve been able to add a player of Ibrahima’s quality to our squad and he is someone I’ve admired for a long time, ever since I first became aware of his potential when he was at Sochaux,” Jurgen Klopp told liverpoolfc.com.
“After the problems we had with injuries in the centre-half position last season, there’s no doubt it was clear it was an area of the team we needed to strengthen – but I first have to say that the job Nat, Rhys and Ozan did was incredible. Unbelievable really.
“In Ibrahima we are signing a player who will add to the quality we already have here. His physical attributes are very impressive; he is quick, he is very strong and he is dominant in the air.
“He comes to us after playing more than 90 times for Leipzig in the Bundesliga and European football. I’m sure that number would have been more but for some injury, but even so that means he already has experience of what it takes to compete in two outstandingly difficult competitions.
“I am confident we are signing a player who can play for us right away, but he is a boy of 22 years of age who has room to improve because of his massive potential. I know that’s something he is eager to work on with us to become an even better player.”
Going back (again) to our injury crisis, it’s worth highlighting that there had been some doubts over the viability of purchasing the defender in light of a major injury that ruled him out for much of the 2019/20 campaign (not to mention his recent ankle concerns this term).
Nonetheless, it’s reassuring that Klopp and the medical team clearly have a great deal of faith that the 22-year-old can put the worst of his fitness struggles behind him in order to fully enjoy his time at Anfield.
With Matip proving to be a constant source of frustration in that regard, it’s relieving to consider that we’ll have the France U21 international available amongst the likes of Nathaniel Phillips and Rhys Williams regardless of what happens to the Cameroonian and our first-choice duo.
It’s not all good news, however, with Ozan Kabak set to go the other way and return to Schalke 04.
With Ben Davies having been informed that his Liverpool future remains secure, it will undeniably raise a few eyebrows in the fanbase, particularly given that the Englishman has yet to play a single minute of football for Liverpool, whilst the Turkey international featured regularly in the second-half of the season up until his injury.
Few critical decisions at the club are made without good reason, however, so we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that it does all work out for the former Preston North End star in the long run in Merseyside.
In the meantime, Klopp and Michael Edwards will have a lot to consider ahead of the upcoming transfer window - not least of all whether we need another centre-back beyond our first signing of the summer to be truly prepared for the next campaign.
For now, though, it’s a brilliant start to what we hope will be a relatively busy window, with the club still needing to address the need for a further quality addition to the forward line and, of course, a suitable Gini Wijnaldum replacement.
Shouldn’t be too much of a tall order, right, Reds!
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