Friday proved another opportunity to cast an eye over new signing Ibrahima Konate, and the No. 5 duly impressed fans with his pace, power and game intelligence.
The 22-year-old is a front-runner for a place in the starting XI come the opening day at Norwich alongside Joel Matip, with both Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez still working their way back to match fitness.
It presents the position that it will be his place to lose.
Konate has played a total of 75 minutes so far in pre-season, with his 45 minutes against Mainz added to his 30-minute outing against Stuttgart earlier in the week.
His debut was an “unforgettable moment” and he followed it up with an eye-catching display despite keeping it relatively simple, with his recovery runs a particular highlight.
And while it is only pre-season, there was plenty of excitement from fans in the glimpses we’ve seen from our new signing to date:
Whenever I see Konate pic.twitter.com/ZEOUcKy5aL
— Sam McGuire (@SamMcGuire90) July 23, 2021
Reckon having Konate starting is going to feel like cheating. Absolutely rapid unit of a man who’s sound on the ball.
— Mike Kearney (@MikeKearney1) July 23, 2021
First half takeaways…..
– Elliott & Keita look in good shape
– Konate is a tank
– I’m 95% sure Tsimikas was the excitable holiday rep running the kids club at our all inclusive holiday…. ?
— Jamie Holme (@JamieHolme) July 23, 2021
Impressed with how assured Konate has been. Has done some of the less heralded defensive basics well that don't get on highlight reels.
— Red (@TaintlessRed) July 23, 2021
Safe to say Konate is fairly fast
— Carson (@WC_LFC_Torres) July 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/LuffyLFC/status/1418615248433467393
look how fast konate recovered and the distance he ran at such a fast pace holy shit pic.twitter.com/gso3JAg2w9
— n ?? (@mane_the_goat) July 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/keiserlfc/status/1418614975174635522
Matip and Konate pic.twitter.com/zd3JcL7rEe
— Inder (@inderghandial) July 23, 2021
The pace we have with VVD, Konate and Joe is ridiculous.
— Sanaya (@Sarcaswari) July 23, 2021
Those lovely glimpses when you can't tell that it is Konate not VVD playing. Konate has that same thing about him, he looks like he is playing in the park and just now and then needs to unleash those superhuman powers.
— Haugstvedt (@DagChrister) July 23, 2021
Konate is special
— sal (@sxlang_) July 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/erhanlfc/status/1418618663800692738
With less than 21 days until Liverpool’s Premier League campaign gets underway, Konate will see his game-time steadily increase and it could be that we saw the back four that will start at Carrow Road on Friday.
It will be interesting to see which side of central defence the Frenchman occupies moving forward, with his position on the left against Mainz in opposition to the right-side he would need to take with Virgil van Dijk on the pitch.
But that the new signing is up and running and showing all the right qualities is a major boost for Klopp and co. ahead of what will be another intense and important season.
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