Joe Gomez or Ibrahima Konate? – What stats say on Virgil van Dijk’s best partner

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With Ibrahima Konate facing doubts over his future along with his fitness, Joe Gomez could be reunited with Virgil van Dijk as Liverpool’s centre-back partnership. We have crunched the numbers based on appearances of 45 minutes or more next to Van Dijk at centre-back – in other words, not including Gomez’s many outings at right-back, left-back or even as a No.

While Gomez’s win rate alongside Van Dijk is superior, Konate has played 40 more games as the Dutchman’s partner and they average more points per game together. But he is unbeaten in seven games as Van Dijk’s centre-back partner since their most recent loss – which was the 5-2 thrashing at the hands of Real Madrid in the Champions League in February 2023.

However it is no fluke that both Jurgen Klopp and now Slot have stuck with Konate as Van Dijk’s first-choice partner – he has proved very reliable in terms of form, fitness and his understanding with the No. Neither match up to Van Dijk’s all-time best centre-back partner, of course: Joel Matip boasts a higher win rate (70.6%) and points-per-game average (2.29) as well as a significantly lower loss rate (12%).