The Reds manager has expressed his desire to work with the French centre-half of Malian descent who joined from RB Leipzig
Jurgen Klopp has underlined how Ibrahima Konate was so pleased to join Liverpool, that he had his shirt presentation in five different venues in Paris.
The six-time European kings activated the release clause in the 22-year-old’s contract at Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, signing the defender on a five-year deal and a fee worth £36 million ($50m).
With the arrival of Konate at Anfield, he becomes a contender to partner Virgil van Dijk at the heart of the Premier League side’s back four.
Also, the German tactician expressed his delight to have the France prospect (of Mali descent) in his star-studded squad ahead of the new season.
Excited to work with him, Klopp stated he has a bright future based on his exploits at the Red Bull Arena.
“First of all, obviously he is very excited! I saw on social media he had his own shirt presentation in five different venues in Paris! Great,” Klopp was quoted by Liverpool website.
“He is a good guy, I knew that before. Physically, because of the situation, we met now [for] the first time here – apart from the games when we played Leipzig, obviously.
“He is a good guy, he is really happy to be here. I’m really happy to have him around. He is a young boy still, unbelievably young, but experienced already. [He] played some really good stuff in the past and hopefully even better stuff in the future.
“But for him, it’s now the first pre-season with us as well, we don’t know a lot about the player, that’s always how it is with new players.
“So, we try to be careful as well, try to be in constant conversations with him about how he feels and these kinds of things. It’s a completely normal process and yeah, [it’s] really good to have him here.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool legend John Barnes claimed the money spent in Konate this summer makes him the favourite to partner Van Dijk.
“It will be interesting to see who starts in central defence for Liverpool alongside Virgil van Dijk next season. In the long term Joe Gomez will be fine, but he’s young and he’s had his injury problems,” he told Goal.
“Having splashed out so much money on a centre-back in Ibrahima Konate, they’ll probably start with him alongside Van Dijk – presuming Van Dijk is fit for the start of the season – but it’s always good to have competition for places.”
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