‘Whoever gets in his way’: Shearer says Liverpool have a player who can just bowl opponents over

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Alan Shearer was impressed by Ibrahima Konate on Saturday as Liverpool beat Manchester City. The centre-back opened the scoring.

Ibrahima Konate is turning into an unbelievable threat from set-pieces, if he isn’t already for Liverpool. That’s now three goals in his last three games from corners. The Frenchman certainly impressed those in the BBC studio.

Alan Shearer, in particular, loved what he saw from Konate as he opened the scoring for Liverpool against Manchester City. He met an Andy Robertson corner for 1-0 just nine minutes into the game.

“Such a presence, so many players who can attack the ball,” said Shearer. “And that’s exactly what Konate does here.

“Whoever gets in his way, they’ve just been bowled over. They’re getting it. Scored in his last three games, he gets up above [Nathan] Aké.”

Ibrahima Konate scores again for Liverpool

What a player Konate is. Just a magnificent young defender who can seemingly do it all. He’s solid on the ball, incredibly quick, strong, and now he’s delivering goals.

Liverpool got an absolute steal, in truth, when they signed him from RB Leipzig in the summer. Konate appears to be an elite defender already – and he’s only 22.

As Trent Alexander-Arnold said earlier this year, his potential is through the roof. Konate just needs the right development and he’ll become a world-class defender who could even have enough to replace Virgil van Dijk one day.

That was a looming threat to Liverpool’s success – their star defender slowing down and impossible to replace. Konate is now on-course to reach a similar level.

And this threat from set-pieces is turning extraordinary. Konate is so powerful, as Shearer says, that few can contend with him when the delivery is good. Liverpool genuinely have a new goalscoring threat from their centre-back – what a player.