Liverpool star makes HUGE admission after DIRE season

Tom Weber

• 17 Jul 2023 14:57 BST
• 3 min read

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has admitted that he needs to 'level up' next season.

The Frenchman arrived to plenty of fanfare in 2021, joining from RB Leipzig in a deal worth €40 million. Regarded as one of the Bundesliga's best defenders, the 24-year-old was expected to slot straight into the Reds' backline.

Things haven't worked out that way, however. Konate has struggled to win a regular starting spot in Jurgen Klopp's side and he only really began to perform close to the level expected of him towards the end of last season when Liverpool improved following a shift in tactics that saw right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold invert and feature as a deep-lying playmaker in possession.

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This gave more responsibility to Konate who now had to cover Alexander-Arnold's starting position in addition to his own centre-back duties. An athletic and intelligent defender, Konate excelled at this. But the 24-year-old has now admitted that there is still room for improvement.

What did Konate say?

Speaking to Liverpool club media, Konate said: "I'm very happy to be here and I want to win a lot of trophies with this club because it's an amazing club with big history. I want to be a big part of this club and win a lot of trophies with this club."

"I think this season, the third season, I have to level up and show another personality of me on the pitch and in life as well," he admitted. "I have a lot of objectives – a lot of clean sheets, help my team, score some goals and win some trophies."

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With regard to the switch in tactics, he added: "Maybe [it] made me a better player because I have to do more, because I have more space to defend. But I have a nice team to help me do this and this season let's see what will happen."