Ibrahima Konate is continuing his recovery process at Liverpool as he works towards a return. The defender is yet to get back to training following a knee injury picked up against Real Madrid last month.
Seen with crutches in the days following the 2-0 win over Carlo Ancelotti’s side, Konate is back in the gym as he looks to get back to full fitness. He has so far missed four Premier League games and two across the Carabao Cup and Champions League.
He was expectedly left out of Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over Southampton – with Jarrell Quansah back in the team. Waturo Endo filled in next to him in a deeper role as Arne Slot rotated heavily, turning to Joe Gomez at left-back in the absence of Andy Robertson (suspended) and Kostas Tsmikas.
The latter came on from the subs bench to make his own return. Virgil van Dijk, so often Konate’s partner, wasn’t included in the matchday squad at all.
Despite the changes and their youthful bench, Liverpool had too much for their south coast opponents. Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliot helped generate a 2-0 lead before Saints hit back to make a game of it in the second half.
Liverpool will now be focusing their attention on travelling to Tottenham on Sunday; a game Konate will also be out for. Ange Postecoglou’s men face Manchester United in the last of the League Cup quarter finals on Thursday night, giving Slot more time to recover.
Ahead of the match, Konate has sent a message from the gym, posting an image of himself sat on a machine designed to work out the quadriceps. It appears to be at AXA Training Centre – and was uploaded on Thursday evening at around 5pm.
