Ibrahima Konate has revealed details of a conversation he shared with Jurgen Klopp before joining Liverpool last year and has admitted he is in awe of the size of the club.
The Frenchman joined from RB Leipzig in a £36m deal and performed superbly when called upon last season, including a standout performance in our Champions League final loss to Real Madrid. in Paris.
Although our No. 5 has yet to feature this campaign due to the knee injury he picked up during pre-season, the 23-year-old is now back in training and has been talking about what it’s like to play for the Anfield side.
“Liverpool is an amazing place and a mythical club,” Konate told Onze Mondial (via This Is Anfield).
“I remember, before I signed, I had the coach on the phone. He told me: ‘The day you sign for Liverpool, it won’t be the same for you, your life will change.
“Wherever you travel in the world, you will see for yourself what I am telling you. In my head I thought: ‘OK, well, it’s an amazing club with a great history, but calm down’.
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“I travelled, I went to Zanzibar this summer and I was taking at least 50 photos a day. And then her sentence came back to me. I thought, ‘This is crazy.’
“As a child I knew that Liverpool was a great club, but I didn’t imagine it that way. It is way above my expectations in every way.”
Liverpool is one of the biggest clubs in world football and no matter where the players go they are sure to be recognized because of our global fan base.
It’s great to see that the Paris-born defender has recognized what an honor it is to play for the mighty Reds and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.
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With him now returning to form and being named on the bench against Rangers on Tuesday, he will be hungry for some minutes in the coming weeks with his sights set on the World Cup which starts next month.
Konate made his international debut for France in June and hopes to be part of Didier Deschamps’ squad for Qatar.
However, his main focus will be on Liverpool and making sure he gets back to being the player he was before his injury.
“Today I am at Liverpool and the truth is that I hardly see a top club,” he added.
“When you are here you have everything: a great club, a great history, always in the race to win the Champions League, the Premier League and all the trophies with magnificent fans.
“I am 23 years old and it is a club where I could finish my career. This club is among the top three clubs in the world.
“But you also need quality to finish your career here!”
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