What an unbelievable signing Ibrahima Konate has proven for Liverpool.
It’s coming up to Konate’s 12-month Anniversary as a Reds player and the 22-year-old has just enjoyed a stellar first season in England.
And it could be set to get a lot better.
Konate could start alongside Virgil van Dijk in Paris on Saturday as Liverpool look to beat Real Madrid to a seventh Champions League title.
The former Red Bull Leipzig powerhouse is yet to lose a game since joining Jurgen Klopp’s outfit and could be given the nod over Joel Matip against the Spanish giants.
It’s unbelievable to think now but before Konate, Liverpool were actually in talks to sign Raphael Varane.
According to The Manchester Evening News on May 14 last year – exactly two weeks before Konate joined – the Anfield club had been ‘holding dialogue with Varane’s camp’.
And considering Varane had a lukewarm first season in the Premier League after joining Manchester United for £42 million [The Guardian], well you could definitely say that Liverpool made the smart choice in pursuing the youngster instead.
In fact, Ian Darke has listed the Red Devils defender in his worst Premier League XI of the season and although the ESPN commentator isn’t the authorative voice on world football, he may have a point.
How much did Konate cost Liverpool?
Even better, Klopp and Michael Edwards paid only £36 million for the 6’5 machine – £6 million less than Varane – who was praised by Jamie Carragher recently.
There’s just no telling what sort of money the man is going to be worth a few years from now.
So much of Liverpool’s success down the years has been signing the right player when there’s been a choice of several, like getting Diogo Jota over Timo Werner for instance.
And signing Konate over Varane, in a summer where Klopp was only ever going to sign one, has proven a fantastic decision.
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