News'I could make a long list' - Ibrahima Konate's learning from Virgil van Dijk
Ibrahima Konate has detailed how playing alongside Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has helped him improve as a centre-back.
Konate and Van Dijk have frequently partnered in the middle of the Reds’ defence this season as Jürgen Klopp’s side have competed on four fronts.
They were together again on Saturday afternoon and delivered a clean sheet at Nottingham Forest, where Darwin Nunez came off the bench to net a 99th-minute winner.
Now in his third season with the club, France international Konate has learned, and feels he is continuing to learn, plenty from his skipper.
On what he has picked up from Van Dijk, the No.5 was quoted in a recent edition of the matchday programme: “Do the long ball! [Laughs]
“No, honestly, I can take so many things off Virg because I consider him to be the best defender in world football. I could make a long list of all the things that I’ve learned and I am still learning stuff from him, both in training and during games.
“I can always improve and that is what you try to work on all the time. He has given me great advice and in some part that has helped me to become the player I am today.
“He sees potential in me and wants me to become an even better defender.”
Konate added: “I want to try to reach his level and why not sometime in the future even try to be better than him.”
Klopp brought Konate to Anfield from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2021 and the defender is now approaching 100 games and has lifted the Emirates FA Cup as well as the Carabao Cup twice.
With the manager set to step down as Reds boss at the end of the current campaign, Konate also spoke of the influence Klopp has had on his life and career.
“I think it is true that everybody in the world probably knows that he has a fantastic reputation of being a great manager and that is certainly true when you work with him on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
“He has a real aura about him in the way that he coaches and manages – it is almost extraordinary the presence that he has. Certainly I wouldn’t be the only person to say he is one of the best coaches currently in the world.
“On a personal level, I have been very happy working with him. On the field I think he has helped me progress a lot and I think I have still got a lot that I can be learning from him before the end of the season.
“As a person, he is also great to be around. He is lively, extroverted and to have rubbed shoulders with him on a day-to-day basis has been a real pleasure on a human level as well as a sporting level.”