Ibrahima Konate came in for high praise after a stellar debut for Liverpool, and one incident with Wilfried Zaha showed exactly the sort of player the Reds have on their hands.
French defender Konate was made to wait for his first appearance following a £36m switch from RB Leipzig over the summer.
Jurgen Klopp eventually gave the nod to the 22-year-old after he had sat on the bench for five of the first five games. He then decided to give him the opportunity to join Virgil van Dijk in Saturday’s 3-0 win against Crystal Palace.
Konate was impressive from the start at Anfield. He used his strength and speed to great effect.
And one moment on the 20 minute mark involving Palace threat Zaha showed off the wisdom and composure of a player 10 years Konate’s senior.
Konate slightly leaning into Zaha as he ran into the penalty area, which caused him to lose his balance and fall on the ground.
Konate had time to pick a pass before the ball stopped, which allowed him time to make a decision.
What did Konate’s debut look like? Comment down below
Klopp admitted at full-time that he was very pleased with Konate’s performance, but insisted that this was just the start for the France U21 international.
“You can see he is incredibly talented,” Klopp stated after the game. “The potential is outstanding.
“He is used to winning challenges easy. He is young and he played a really good game. Massive. First home game for him.
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“You want the team to watch the games and see what we do. We need to have experience from what we see. And he did really well. So much potential.
“He will get better. Today, against Benteke and Edouard and Zaha, there were situations where it is new for him. Step by step.”