In Clairefontaine,
On Monday, he arrived as the king of fashion at Clairefontaine. On Tuesday, it was without a green hood but with the aura of a leader that Ibrahima Konaté presented himself in front of journalists irradiated by the man’s solar energy. “I could stay there listening to him for hours,” smiles a colleague while the Liverpool defender has barely left the room. Not us who are going to contradict him. For the first time or almost, in X years of press conferences in the depths of Yvelines, it is overflowing with information that we emerge from the auditorium.
The last one to make such a good impression? Without a doubt the Mbappé of Monaco. Kylian finished captain, and we would hardly be surprised to see Konaté join him. Through his speech and despite an indisputable starting status to be regained, he is clearly applying for the armband vacated by the Merengue striker, absent from the gathering.
Konaté born communicator
“Being a leader is something that cannot be taught,” Konaté said. We have it, or we don’t. You have to be appreciated by everyone on and off the field. He will be there not necessarily when things are going well, but especially when things are not going well [pardonnez notre mauvais esprit, mais on a envie d’y voir un scud pour vous savez qui] . »
As for the interim contenders, the central defender has a few names in mind. “Mike (Maignan), me… Jules (Koundé), Aurel’ (Tchouaméni), maybe. These are the only names that come to mind. »
Euro 2024 spent without playing necessarily harms the contender – he is well aware of this – but his agility in the media exercise places him ahead of those who, like the goalkeeper, loathe the sacrosanct ping-pong before the match with the journalists. In the current configuration, assuming that Kylian Mbappé would continue to skip the exercise as has already been the case, a Konaté would be the perfect substitute, the player equivalent of the assistant sent to a press conference in a game from Football Manager. The one we send to catch the lightning.
Talkative about the Middle East and infernal rhythms
Ibrahima Konaté, hybrid man, half solar panel, half lightning rod. Able to laugh at his rivalry with Jules Koundé in the fashion field and to evoke as if nothing had happened, the possible “psychological breakdown” of Kylian Mbappé, whose current malaise is an open secret of which the Scouser “would like to speak with him” and discuss the situation in the Middle East before playing Israel on Thursday, all on a wire suspended in the air.
“We are not going to look at who we are playing against, the most important thing is to win and take the three points but what is happening today in the world does not leave us indifferent, it is the truth. What we see today on social networks is abominable. I don’t even have the words to describe the horror we see. »
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In the field of players’ rights, a major topical issue, the player was not left out, particularly on the question of a hypothetical strike. “If tomorrow all the leaders in the world of football decide to bang their fists on the table… […] If there is a movement that can lead to understanding, I think the players will follow it because it is in all of our interests. » Ibrahima Konaté president… er captain!
