Garth Crooks has heaped praise onto Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp for seeming to unearth another gem in the transfer market after the strong performance of Ibrahima Konate against Manchester United yesterday.
The Frenchman hasn’t always been a regular starter for Liverpool since joining from RB Leipzig in the summer, but he looked very assured in this memorable 5-0 victory at Old Trafford, earning a place in Crooks’ Premier League team of the week in the process.
Crooks was impressed by the way Konate went about his business without too much fuss, with the 22-year-old clearly not over-awed by playing against top attacking players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood.
Writing in his BBC Sport column, Crooks said: “The French centre-back – signed in the summer from RB Leipzig – is the latest addition to this Liverpool team and fits like a glove.
“No frills or skills but he does use his power and strength to maximum effect. This wasn’t Chelsea versus Norwich but Manchester United against Liverpool and Mason Greenwood, Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford hardly had a kick.
“Like Naby Keita, Jurgen Klopp seems to have made another extremely astute purchase in Konate.”
Liverpool fans will no doubt be pleased to see Konate getting this recognition, and will hope this big performance in an important game can now help him step up and feature more regularly for Klopp’s side.
Some were critical of LFC for not spending enough this summer, but it looks increasingly like Konate was a superb piece of business, while the calls to change the rest of the squad were perhaps a tad premature as it’s clear this generation is far from finished yet.
More must-reads: