Ibrahima Konate tips Mo Salah for Ballon D’Or with Liverpool team-mate enjoying career season so far | Football news
Ibrahima Konate says he is inspired by winning the trophy for “amazing” team-mate Mo Salah in the hope the striker can win the Ballon d’Or for the first time.
“Everything he’s done since the start of the season, even since he’s been playing for Liverpool – it’s crazy what he’s done,” laughed the Frenchman when asked about Salah’s contribution to Liverpool’s title challenge.
He was quick to praise the 32-year-old, and why not? According to conventional wisdom, Salah should be past his prime, looking towards the end of his days at the top of the game.
Instead, he is posting the best numbers of his career to lead the Golden Boot race since Erling Haaland, with a goal every 57 minutes on average.
Much of his contribution speaks for itself, but not his support for his teammates behind closed doors.
This is what motivates Konate to return the favor, in line with his personal ambitions, and why he wants to help the striker surpass his previous best Ballon d’Or fifth position and lift the trophy next October.
He said: “I really hope we can achieve great things this season because if he continues like this I think he can win the Ballon d’Or at the end of the season.
“He’ll never say that because I think his aim is just to win big things with Liverpool. He doesn’t really think of himself as, ‘okay, I want to score more goals, I want to have more assists’ – he just wants to win the game.
“He just wants to share his experience with new players, young players. And for me it’s amazing to be a player like that at his age and to be so professional.”
Konate has been impressed by Salah but knew the heights the forward could reach before joining him at Anfield from RB Leipzig in 2021. He was not as privy to the quality of fellow defender Virgil van Dijk before his arrival.
After three years of a developing relationship and his maturation into the tall Dutchman’s first partner, he believes the duo can rival not only Gabriel and William Salib as the Premier League’s best centre-back pairing, but anyone in world football.
“What a defender”, he smiles again. “When I was in Leipzig and watched some Liverpool games, I didn’t realize how good he was.
“And when I came here sometimes I just thought, no, how is this possible? He’s too good. When I first came here, he gave me a lot of advice and helped me adapt.
“Now on the field, as much as I need him, I think it’s the same for him with me. We just work together and try to be the best partner in the world.
“Some strikers see Virgil and say ‘okay, now I have no chance against him’. They don’t give 100 percent.”
That chemistry has been helped by the approach Arne Slott has taken at Anfield since succeeding Jurgen Klopp, with the likeable manager’s poise branded the best in world football by his predecessor earlier this week.
Konate is not afraid to compare the two and believes the measure of control Slot has brought after nine years of ‘heavy metal’ football under the Klopp dynasty has improved the team. The numbers would suggest that; Liverpool have a stronger defense than in three of the previous four seasons.
He says: “[Trent Alexander-Arnold] it helps a lot when we attack which leaves me a lot of space to defend. But the way the manager explained to us that we all defend together helped me and the team a lot.
“If you can see and compare to last season or the year before, we were more exposed. But now when we lose the ball, everyone is trying to help the team and I think we are more together.
“No one expected the coach to do what he has done since the beginning of the season. He has a great idea of how to play, he knows what to do and it’s not about adapting to another team. I think this makes a big difference for us compared to Jurgen. “
