James Pearce has suggested that one man in particular at Liverpool could now have ‘a real fight’ on his hands to start regularly under Arne Slot this season.
Having been part of the France squad which reached the semi-finals of Euro 2024, Ibrahima Konate has only joined up with the Reds this week following his time off after the tournament.
That has duly given Jarell Quansah the opportunity to build upon his superb breakthrough campaign at Anfield, and it’s one that the 21-year-old is seizing as he excelled in the 2-1 win over Arsenal in Philadelphia.
Pearce singled out the Warrington native for praise in his post-match verdict for The Athletic and sounded an ominous note for his elder centre-back colleague.
The journalist wrote: “Quansah took Konate’s place last season and the Frenchman, who could feature against Manchester United in South Carolina on Saturday, faces a real fight to reclaim it.”
With Virgil van Dijk assured of a starting berth when available, there’s effectively one centre-back place up for grabs at Liverpool; and having earned the shirt towards the end of 2023/24, Quansah is making a very strong case to keep it when the new Premier League season begins later this month.
Konate hasn’t been helped by multiple injury absences at Anfield, his own loss of form in the latter weeks of last term or his lack of any action at Euro 2024, with William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano being Didier Deschamps’ go-to partnership for France.
With a few days’ training under his belt this week, the 25-year-old could be in line to start against United at the weekend. If he does, his performance on the night could be pivotal to his hopes of being in the team to face Ipswich on 17 August.
At his best, the Frenchman can be a rock at the heart of the Liverpool defence, but his loss in 2024 has proven to be Quansah’s gain, and right now it’d be hard to justify benching the English youngster for the Premier League opener.
Konate has a handful of training sessions and two pre-season games in which to make his case to Slot before then. Let’s hope that he can present the head coach with a pleasant selection headache by the time the Reds venture to East Anglia 16 days from now.
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