Departing Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has spoken candidly about how the devastating loss of Diogo Jota followed closely by the death of his father left him battling depression.
The 27-year-old France centre-back endured a challenging season off the pitch, and that at times carried into his performances on the field. He has recently confirmed he will leave Anfield this summer, with his contract set to expire after a new deal failed to materialise.
Real Madrid is now his likely next destination, with reports saying he is close to joining Jose Mourinho’s set-up after five years on Merseyside.
Before linking up with former team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Spanish capital, Konate is set to help France in their bid to reclaim the title they lost to Argentina in 2022 – and he has spoken candidly about the challenges of an emotionally draining season.
Speaking on France Inter radio station and translated from French, Konate began by speaking about the difficulty of coming to terms with team-mate Jota’s death following the Portugal forward’s car crash last July. Jota’s brother Andre Silva also died in the accident, which took place in the Spanish province of Zamora.
Konate said: ‘Even today it’s hard to believe. His locker was still there in the dressing room, and every day when I was going to training he was coming with us.
‘I remember when I found out when I was in Los Angeles and I couldn’t believe it. It devastated me. I didn’t have any interest in anything else at that point. It was the last person anyone would have chosen this to happen to.
‘He didn’t care about anything. He just wanted to be happy and to have a good time with his team-mates and his family. He wasn’t interested in fame. He was my neighbour as well, so I shared a few more moments with him.
‘It was something powerful that happened to all of us.’
‘I remember when I found out when I was in Los Angeles and I couldn’t believe it. It devastated me. I didn’t have any interest in anything else at that point,’ Konate said of Jota’s death
Konate described how difficult it was going back to football following the resumption of the season, describing how he felt he owed it to Jota and his family, and the club’s fanbase, despite being severely affected by it.
‘You go back to football because you have no choice,’ he said. ‘We’re employees at a club that pays us every month, so we have duties. I think every fan was affected by this too, and I think all that we can do to help them is by winning games. We had no choice but to go back on the field and play for him and his family – as well as ourselves. There’s no way of getting over it, but you learn to live with it.’
Alongside this tragedy, Konate had also been dealing with his father’s illness, something he found out about at the beginning of the season. In January, Hamady Konate unfortunately passed away.
‘I’ve never spoken about it before, but it’s true that at the start of the season, my father was in hospital for several weeks,’ Konate said. ‘And actually, in my situation, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know whether I should go home and stop playing, because the team needed me too.
‘I didn’t know who to talk to about it, so I kept it all to myself. And this is the advice I’d give to everyone listening: when you’re feeling down or something’s going on, you need to talk to those around you. It can help you and do you good. I didn’t talk about it and kept it to myself.
‘The doctors then told us he didn’t have long to live, but we didn’t know it would happen so quickly.’
Despite making himself available for selection at every opportunity, Konate opened up on the emotional toll these events had taken on him.
‘There was never a moment when I felt like I was on the mend,’ he said. ‘All of these tragic events happened so quickly and, as soon as I felt like I was getting my head above water, something else happened. But then I had the support of all these fans, who are exceptional at Liverpool.
Konate was visibly emotional after scoring against Newcastle in January shortly after the death of his father, Hamady
‘My team-mates and especially my family, but I also had to learn how to get back on my feet on my own because the team needed me more than ever. And I told myself that it happens to everyone every day, and I know that my father would have wanted me to get back.’
Konate has used this opportunity to encourage players and fans to be more open with each other.
‘There are low points, there’s depression,’ he said. ‘And I think depression is something much deeper, and that it’s an illness people live with every day. You can suffer from depression in football too; there’s no need to be ashamed to say so. And it can be triggered by anything and everything.
‘It’s true that I’ve often heard players say they were suffering from depression and that fans or people on the outside didn’t understand because they were earning a lot of money. But no, that’s rubbish and you shouldn’t say that.
‘Depression is personal; it’s deep inside you. When you’re depressed, it starts in the heart, goes up to the brain and takes over your whole body. For me, that’s what’s hard, and we need to talk about it.’
For confidential support, call Samaritans on 116 123, visit samaritans.org or visit www.thecalmzone.net/get-support
