Ibrahima Konate jokes about main thing Virgil van Dijk taught him

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has had some nice words to say about Reds captain Virgil van Dijk. He's learned a lot from his teammate.

Ibrahima Konate believes Virgil van Dijk is the best defender in the world - and he's learned a lot from his teammate at Liverpool. The Frenchman paid tribute to his captain, especially with how driven Van Dijk is to improve others.

But what is the most important thing he's learned?

“Do the long ball! [Laughs]" Konate told Liverpool's matchday programme. “No, honestly, I can take so many things off Virg because I consider him to be the best defender in world football.

"I could make a long list of all the things that I’ve learned and I am still learning stuff from him, both in training and during games.

“I can always improve and that is what you try to work on all the time. He has given me great advice and in some part that has helped me to become the player I am today.

“He sees potential in me and wants me to become an even better defender.”

And despite holding Van Dijk in regard as the best defender on the planet, Konate dreams of being even better one day. Even if that's a huge ask.

“I want to try to reach his level and why not sometime in the future even try to be better than him," he went on to say.

Ibrahima Konate hails Virgil van Dijk

One enormous benefit of having world-class players at the club is their ability to help develop younger stars. That's exactly what we've been seeing with Van Dijk and Konate since 2021.

And honestly, if any defender has what it takes to even surpass Van Dijk, it might be Konate. He's a player without an obvious weakness in his game and he should continue to improve as he takes on more responsibility at Liverpool.

If he can put everything he's learned from Van Dijk into practice, the Reds could well find themselves with the world's best defender again.