After joining Liverpool from RB Leipzig on July 1, the 22-year-old linked up with his new teammates for the first time on Monday, as the Reds' training camp in Salzburg got underway.
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Ibrahima Konate is understandably “happy” to be a part of the Liverpool set-up, but admitted that there’s plenty of hard work needed to be done in the coming weeks. After joining the Reds from RB Leipzig on July 1, the 22-year-old linked up with his new teammates for the first time on Monday, as the Reds’ training camp in Salzburg got underway. “I am very happy to be here with the team,” the centre-back told Liverpoolfc.com in an interview. “My first impressions, I am very happy because I work with great players and I know I will [improve] here and I will be better with time.
“I’m very happy because we work together, everybody is happy and this is good. Of course, I will learn [from] these players, but not just with these players, with every player on this team. It’s just the start and with time it will be [a lot] better. Yes, I know I am very young but this is not important – I have to improve on the pitch and to work. If I am good, for the rest it is not important.”
Ibrahima Konate has inherited the No.5 jersey at Anfield, taking over from Georginio Wijnaldum following his departure to Paris Saint-Germain this summer. “I think it’s an important number for this club,” he explained. “A great player had this number before me. I have not pressure but a little bit of pressure because I have to improve for the future. I hope I will do great things with this number.”
Liverpool defender Joel Matip believes that a full programme of pre-season training will enable him to regain peak fitness. An ankle ligament injury sustained in January saw the defender’s 2020-21 campaign cut short. “I’m feeling good. It’s nice to be back in training with the lads and to just be playing, playing [with] the ball and being active,” Matip told the club’s website at the team’s base in the state of Salzburg.
“I feel really good at the moment. I have a lot of sessions ahead of me but I am feeling good and I hope to continue like this. Training camps are always intense but for these moments we are here and these belong to pre-season and we try to enjoy it.”
“If you always train on your own it is quite hard for the head but if you are back with the team and can play, and also make jokes, that always helps. You are really looking forward to the moment when you are in between them [again]. It’s funny to be around them and you laugh a lot more than when you are on your own!”
While opening up about his absence due to the injury, Matip also went on to praise the likes of Nathaniel Phillips and Rhys Williams, who stepped up in the absence of Jurgen Klopp’s senior defensive players. He added, “It was not a really good period for me, a lot of injuries, but I only can look forward and try to do my best and try to get in the best shape I can. They did great! They were thrown in and their performance was really great, especially under this kind of pressure. They did really, really well.”
