Jurgen Klopp was reportedly told by Ralph Rangnick to pursue Ibrahima Konate over Dayot Upamecano, according to RB Leipzig journalist Guido Schafer.
Speaking with his compatriot, the 62-year-old recommended the Frenchman as the “greater talent and the better player”, with the Reds later following the German’s advice and signing the centre-half in the summer window.
“Liverpool were in contact for many months. Klopp asked Ralf Rangnick a couple of years ago: ‘who is the better player: Dayot Upamecano or Konate?” the reporter told the Blood Red Club podcast (via the Echo).
“Rangnick told Jurgen ‘when you are able to buy both, buy both’.
“They are both skilful players but the greater talent and the better player is Konate – he is outstanding.
“Upamecano is a little more dynamic but the better player for technique, view of the match, passing and heading is Konate – he never lost one header.”
Having been led to believe by numerous reports that the club secured the weaker of the two signings, Rangnick’s comments may very well raise a few eyebrows over at Bayern Munich who moved first to bring Upamecano to Bavaria.
With it appearing to be the case that we’ve snatched the more talented of the two remarkable centre-back options, the future of our backline should be considered somewhat exciting with the likes of Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson all under the age of 27.
Should the Frenchman move beyond his prior injury concerns – as Liverpool are presumably confident he will, based on our purchase of the 22-year-old – we could have a formidable centre-back partnership on our hands.
Liverpool signing Euros stars would be similar to coup purchase of Salah in 2017