Raphael Honigstein has praised Liverpool’s new summer signing, Ibrahima Konate, who he believes has a great deal of potential to realise at his new club.
The Frenchman marks the first of what fans hope will be a relatively busy transfer window for the Reds, with the club reportedly set to pursue an addition to the forward line and the midfield having likewise been identified as being in need of reinforcements.
“He is a very technical centre-back,” the German journalist told liverpoolfc.com.
“In terms of his development as a player, I think it has been pretty good if you consider the fact that was the first big club he played for and he has gone from a player that was picked up for free to a player seen as the solution to one of Liverpool’s problems next season.
“He is just a top, an absolute top player. If it’s true that centre-backs, a little bit like centre-forwards, tend to mature a little bit later – and I guess [Virgil] van Dijk is a very good example of that – then the ceiling is still very, very high for him.
“I think there’s a lot more he can achieve and he can personally aspire to. So, top buy, in my view.”
With the former RB Leizpig star set to join forces with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool at the start of July, our centre-back depth is looking more than reasonable.
Ideally, given Joel Matip’s continuing fitness concerns, we would have held on to Ozan Kabak, however, it’s entirely possible that the recruitment team could pursue another defensive target down the line.
At the moment, however, it’s exciting to consider the potential of our first summer signing, who some have claimed has an even higher talent ceiling than his former partner in the Bundesliga Dayot Upamecano.
At the very least, it will undoubtedly push the 22-year-old’s competition in Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Nathaniel Phillips to hopefully reach greater heights at Anfield as we look to return to the title battle next term.
Jurgen Klopp could be repeating a HUGE transfer mistake this summer