Ibrahima Konate had a brilliant comeback on social media after his peculiar omission from a shortlist of the best Premier League defenders.
One Tuesday, Amazon Prime Video sport posted an image to their social channels asking followers to name the best centre-back in the English top flight at the moment, with Virgil van Dijk, William Saliba, John Stones and Ruben Dias all featured.
The broadcaster threw open the debate with the caption of ‘Any other names come to mind?’, an invitation that one user took up to enquire as to why Liverpool’s number 5 wasn’t included in the graphic.
The France international – who the Reds signed from RB Leipzig in 2021 – saw that particular reply and seized his opportunity to weigh in the debate by answering the query ‘Where’s Konate?’ with the cutting response of ‘in Bundesliga maybe’.
The 25-year-old’s interjection elicited a string of replies (presumably from Liverpool fans) lapping up that quip and showing their admiration for the Anfield defender.
Konate definitely among the best Premier League centre-backs right now
The fact that Konate has been virtually ever-present in the Premier League’s best defensive unit this season – just six goals conceded after 11 games – should automatically catapult him into the discussion regarding the division’s top centre-backs, and his underlying performance figures also add weight to that claim.
As per FBref, he has a better xG than Saliba, Stones and Dias and also boasts a significant superior aerial duel success rate (82.4%) to that trio (the England international is the next best with 66.7%).
The Liverpool defender might feel particularly scorned to be omitted from the Amazon Prime graphic in favour of the former Everton man, with the Reds’ number 5 faring the better of the two for pass completion (91.2% to 86.7%), tackles and interceptions per game (1.73 to 1.48) and ball carries per 90 minutes (46.7 to 39.3).
Didier Deschamps rewarded Konate’s outstanding form by naming him France captain for their 3-1 win over Italy at the weekend, with the 25-year-old repaying the manager’s faith by delivering a superb performance.
It appears that he hasn’t quite been given the same recognition in England just yet, but if he continues to perform as he has been doing so far this season, his name will surely roll straight off the tongue in discussions about the best centre-backs in the Premier League.