Nathaniel Phillips has admitted he’s not surprised that Liverpool ended up adding Ibrahima Konate to their ranks ahead of the opening of the summer transfer window.
The Frenchman is set to join Jurgen Klopp’s men at the start of July (work permit pending), with the Reds having quickly addressed a key area of the squad in need of reinforcements.
“It’s no surprise (to see Konate signed). Liverpool is a huge club and they are always going to have huge competition for places. You always have to compete for your place in the team,” the 24-year-old admitted in an interview with the Echo.
“Even though there is a lot of competition, I see it as another person to try and learn from. A new person’s game I get to see up close, see how they play and see if I can take anything from that.
“At Liverpool there is always going to be high competition for a place on the pitch. No matter who you are, you don’t have a right to play for them and certainly not myself, having only played a handful of games when the new boys came in.”
Objectively speaking, it’s difficult to see the former loanee beating out the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez for a starting spot.
That being said, a case could certainly be made for him being a potential third-choice option off the back of last season’s positive performances.
Konate, though extremely highly-rated, is something of a relatively unknown quantity (at least as far as the Premier League is concerned), which could work in Phillips’ favour in the near future.
As things stand it looks like the Englishman’s fate will be decided soon with talks set to go on between the defender and Jurgen Klopp.
Over 80% of Liverpool fans polled had their say on their ideal midfield transfer target