One Liverpool participant has vowed to take ‘extra duty’ inside Jurgen Klopp’s line-up within the absence of quite a few injury-stricken teammates.
Ibrahima Konate is likely one of the Reds’ defenders who’s nonetheless standing, and if he can keep away from damage within the meantime, he’s set to be an important participant for the second half of the season whereas fellow centre-back Joel Matip recovers from a cruciate ligament rupture.
In an interview with liverpoolfc.com forward of the journey to Bournemouth on Sunday, the 24-year-old spoke of his willpower to contribute his fair proportion to the staff and atone for the Cameroonian’s absence, in addition to that of defensive colleagues Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas.
The Frenchman mentioned: “We’re all conscious of what a terrific loss Joel is to the staff, and I simply want him a extremely speedy restoration.
“However on a private degree I’ve at all times put myself ahead to take duty and so the extra time goes by I’m going to develop extra as a participant and I’m going to imagine an increasing number of duty and I’ve to proceed contributing much more to the facet. I’m proud of what I’ve been doing thus far and I hope that may proceed to get even higher.”
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Konate’s deeds in current weeks point out that his phrases aren’t mere crowd-pleasing rhetoric – simply have a look at his performances towards Arsenal over the previous month.
The £70,000-per-week defender gained seven duels and 5 tackles within the 1-1 draw towards the Gunners previous to Christmas (Sofascore), whereas he additionally led by instance alongside Jarell Quansah two weeks later when the Reds dumped Mikel Arteta’s facet out of the FA Cup.
At 24 and with virtually 200 video games in senior soccer below his belt (Transfermarkt), our quantity 5 is now at a degree in his profession the place you’d prefer to see him demonstrably turning into a frontrunner inside Klopp’s staff, and he’s been doing simply that together with his current shows.
Konate nonetheless has a pure born captain in Virgil van Dijk subsequent to him, so he boasts the right centre-back associate from whom to develop his sport even additional.
Our message to the Frenchman could be very easy – simply preserve doing what you could have been of late and also you’ll be nearly as good as your phrase!
