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‘His words came back’: Liverpool player says an ‘insane’ experience this summer proved Jurgen Klopp right

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Ibrahima Konaté says an ‘insane’ experience this summer eventually proved Jurgen Klopp right. The Liverpool defender couldn’t believe it.

Ibrahima Konaté recently talked about his move to Liverpool – and a promise by Jurgen Klopp at the time. He says the boss guaranteed that moving to Anfield would be life-changing for the Frenchman.

Konaté, though, didn’t quite believe it.

“I remember, before I signed, I had the coach on the phone,” Konaté told Onze Mondial. “He said to me: ‘The day you sign for Liverpool, it will not be the same for you, your life will change.

“Wherever you travel in the world, you will see for yourself what I am telling you. In my head I was thinking: ‘OK, fine, it’s an incredible club with a great history, but chill’.”

This summer, however, Konaté went on holiday and says the reaction to him eventually proved Klopp right. Liverpool, it turns out, is a massive club.

“I travelled, I went to Zanzibar this summer, and I was taking at least 50 photos a day,” he explained. “And then his sentence came back into my head. I thought: ‘This is insane’.

“As a kid, I knew Liverpool was a big club, but I didn’t imagine it like this. It’s way above my expectations in every way.”

Ibou Konaté has ‘insane’ experience

Konaté’s reputation skyrocketed last season after joining Liverpool. He went from a relatively-known young defender in Germany to being a starting player in the Champions League final.

Liverpool Training Session
Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

And even though injury has kept him out this season, there’s still a sense that Konaté is one of the best young defenders on the planet. There aren’t really any we’d swap him for, in fact, such were his performances last season.

Liverpool have missed him this season and we can’t wait to see him back in the side. Konaté is a player who exceeded expectations, just as the club did with him.