Jürgen Klopp offers Ibrahima Konaté injury update and makes ‘four transfers’ Liverpool point

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp spoke before Crystal Palace, providing an update on Ibrahima Konaté’s injury and also speaking on transfer strategy.

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté could return against Crystal Palace this weekend, but according to Jürgen Klopp, the French centre-back has only played two training sessions this week.

The game may come a little early for Konaté given the short training time, but it hasn’t been serious injury that he’s returning from, having sustained a hamstring injury in January’s FA Cup match against Brighton.

He brings the Champions League ahead of the game at Selhurst Park, with the Reds recovering from a heavy home defeat to Real Madrid in mid-week and their summer transfer strategy.

“Ibrahima Konaté is close, but he [he only did two sessions] after a long injury,” Klopp explained at the press conference. “You see when the boys arrive, they are not at their best yet (Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino). We have to make some changes and we will.

“We know we have to improve things, we have to change. We can’t do it now, but we can do it in the summer. European football and the Champions League are incredibly important for the club.” We need points for that, we don’t have to talk about it.”

Klopp has also expanded summer plans when transfers will be big and an overhaul will take place.

“It’s always been clear that this team has a wonderful history,” Klopp said. “This club is not run by injections of money, our transfers have to be correct. That makes things really difficult.

“We cannot complete four transfers before we know who is leaving the club. I knew it was going to be difficult and that was one of the reasons I signed a contract.

“Last season wasn’t a season of big changes: we played until the last minute. We can’t just bring in new players and then realize nobody wants to leave.

“We’re trying to get the best out of this season. That’s the idea. The better you behave at such a moment, the better off you will be afterwards. Imagine if we didn’t learn from our failures throughout our lives! We have to learn from this.”

What does it mean?

Konaté will be a great addition for Liverpool in defense if he gets through. Neither Joe Gomez nor Joël Matip are in the best form right now, but perhaps Konaté is more likely to return for the Wolves game than this one.

It was always clear, however, when Klopp made transfers, that a reconstruction was needed. However, the idea that the Reds could no longer sign players without knowing who is leaving is only correct to a certain extent: it would have been possible to let someone like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain leave before the end of his contract. he could have wished