James Pearce has recommended that one man specifically at Liverpool may now have ‘an actual combat’ on his palms to begin frequently beneath Arne Slot this season.
Having been a part of the France squad which reached the semi-finals of Euro 2024, Ibrahima Konate has solely joined up with the Reds this week following his day off after the match.
That has duly given Jarell Quansah the chance to construct upon his excellent breakthrough marketing campaign at Anfield, and it’s one which the 21-year-old is seizing as he excelled within the 2-1 win over Arsenal in Philadelphia.
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Pearce singled out the Warrington native for reward in his post-match verdict for The Athletic and sounded an ominous notice for his elder centre-back colleague.
The journalist wrote: “Quansah took Konate’s place final season and the Frenchman, who may characteristic in opposition to Manchester United in South Carolina on Saturday, faces an actual combat to reclaim it.”
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With Virgil van Dijk assured of a beginning berth when accessible, there’s successfully one centre-back place up for grabs at Liverpool; and having earned the shirt in the direction of the tip of 2023/24, Quansah is making a really sturdy case to maintain it when the brand new Premier League season begins later this month.
Konate hasn’t been helped by a number of damage absences at Anfield, his personal lack of type within the latter weeks of final time period or his lack of any motion at Euro 2024, with William Saliba and Dayot Upamecano being Didier Deschamps’ go-to partnership for France.
With a number of days’ coaching beneath his belt this week, the 25-year-old might be in line to begin in opposition to United on the weekend. If he does, his efficiency on the night time might be pivotal to his hopes of being within the crew to face Ipswich on 17 August.
At his finest, the Frenchman generally is a rock on the coronary heart of the Liverpool defence, however his loss in 2024 has confirmed to be Quansah’s achieve, and proper now it’d be laborious to justify benching the English teenager for the Premier League opener.
Konate has a handful of coaching classes and two pre-season video games wherein to make his case to Slot earlier than then. Let’s hope that he can current the top coach with a nice choice headache by the point the Reds enterprise to East Anglia 16 days from now.
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