During this difficult period Konate was also carrying the burden of knowing his father was seriously ill.<\/p>\n
“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,” he added.<\/p>\n
“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: when you’re feeling down or something’s going on, you need to talk to those around you.<\/p>\n
“It can help you and do you good. I didn’t talk about it and kept it to myself.<\/p>\n
“The doctors then told us he didn’t have long to live, but we didn’t know it would happen so quickly.”<\/p>\n
Konate returned early from compassionate leave to help Liverpool<\/a> avert an injury crisis at the end of January but the centre-back conceded that things were never quite right. <\/p>\n He made 51 appearances across the 2025-26 campaign, 49 as a starter, but was unable to consistently produce the best form he had displayed across his previous four seasons on Merseyside as Liverpool<\/a> finished fifth in the Premier League.<\/p>\n Konate, who has been capped 27 times by France, is part of Didier Deschamps’ 26-man squad for the World Cup<\/a>, with Les Bleus among the favourites.<\/p>\n “There was never a moment when I felt like I was on the mend,” he added.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “I had the support of all these fans, who are exceptional at Liverpool<\/a>, 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 know that my father would have wanted me to get back.”<\/p>\n