Ibrahima Konate aiming for 'better career' than Liverpool team-mate Virgil van Dijk as he reveals admiration for Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos
Ibrahima Konate has admitted he's aiming for a «better career» than Liverpool team-mate Virgil van Dijk and revealed his admiration for Sergio Ramos.
WHAT HAPPENED? The French centre-back is one of theregular names on the team sheet for Jurgen Klopp alongside Van Dijk at Anfield. When quizzed on whether Van Dijk has been someone he looks up to, Konate revealed that he wants to achieve greater things than the Dutch defender before he hangs up his boots, and instead idolises Spanish World Cup winner and Real Madrid legend Ramos.
WHAT THEY SAID: «There are very few defenders who have managed to have as good a career as him (Van Dijk). I learn a lot alongside him. My goal, and he knows it, is to have a better career than him. My No.1 has long been Sergio Ramos,” he said in an interview with Le Parisien.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: 2018 World Cup winner and Ramos' former defensive partner at Real Madrid, Raphael Varane, decided to quit international football earlier in February, aged just 29. After the Manchester United defender decided to retire from France duty, there were suggestions that Konate would be his ideal successor. However, the 24-year-old has brushed aside such talk as he believes that he has a long way to go before he can fill Varane's shoes.
»Not yet. It’s one of my goals but I’m still far from everything he’s won, his track record, everything Raphael Varane has achieved,” Konate explained.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT? Konate will hope to get the better of Van Dijk when they clash against each other in a Euro 2024 qualifier between France and the Netherlands on Friday evening at Johan Cruijff Arena.
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