French team – Konaté: “Griezmann? What happened saddens me”

His laugh is always communicative, his language is never wooden. Ibrahima Konaté once again brought a real breath of fresh air to a press conference on Tuesday. The Liverpool central defender was obviously questioned on one of the major topics of this October gathering: life without Antoine Griezmann, who announced his international retirement last week.

“The famous Grizou… What happened saddens meadmitted the tricolor rock. He was a typical example of a leader.” A leader who, after the retirement of Hugo Lloris, saw the captain’s armband slip under his nose, in favor of Kylian Mbappé. “I know he would have wanted the armband too, Konaté continued. The day of the announcement, he was a little sad but the same evening he was up for it. I don’t understand the journalists who said he was sad, he never was. He called Kylian ‘captain’ in front of us.”

A behind-the-scenes confirmation of what we saw from the outside: “Grizou” never dragged his spleen, or at least never showed it. And it was discreetly, after a final appearance against Belgium in Lyon, that he put an end to his great blue adventure, without warning anyone.

“He deserved an extraordinary farewell. I don’t know if he is planning something for the future or if he wants to come back. Everyone would have preferred to know about it at the last gathering, to say a goodbye worthy of the name. I didn’t even comment on his networks, I said to myself ‘no it’s not possible, it can’t end like that'”. However, this is indeed the case. And while Kylian Mbappé is also missing from this gathering, leaders will have to assert themselves.

“It’s innate, we have it or notassures Konaté. The players who have the profile? I have two or three names in mind: Mike Maignan, me, Jules Koundé and Aurélien Tchouaméni perhaps. Those are the only names that come to mind.” Here again, Konaté spoke without calculation. He will have to play the same way to reestablish himself as a starter.