Report shares how confident Liverpool are of Ibrahima Konate being fit to face Man United after France withdrawal
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Liverpool are sweating over the fitness of Ibrahima Konate after the centre-back returned early from international duty.Konate had been taken off after just 10 minutes of the second-half during the Reds’ defeat to Chelsea last weekend.Despite being deemed fit enough to join the France squad, the 26-year-old has since been forced to withdraw from national team selection.Konate flew back to Liverpool on Saturday, with Arne Slot left wondering whether the No. 5 would be ready to face Manchester United in a week’s time.Should Konate be unfit to play, Slot will have only two natural options to pick centre-back, making the Frenchman’s recovery an important topic.And as they wait to determine just how injured he is, an early update has been issued from Liverpool on whether they think Konate will be ready.Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty ImagesLiverpool confident of minor Ibrahima Konate injuryKonate’s issue comes at a time when he is badly struggling for form.
As a result, some Liverpool fans may not be too upset at the thought of him missing next Sunday’s game.But according to The Athletic, Liverpool are currently hoping that the France international will not have to sit out.READ MORE: Danny Murphy says he’s figured out why Florian Wirtz isn’t playing well for Liverpool at the momentThey claim that the Reds are ‘confident’ Konate’s issue is only a ‘minor’ one and think he could be back to play against United.The centre-back is certain to miss France’s game at Iceland on Monday, but could return just six days later.In terms of a more general fitness overview ahead of the United clash, it is reconfirmed that Alisson Becker will not be ready to face Liverpool’s biggest rivals.Meanwhile, there are seemingly no further injury concerns one week before the match.Konate should be rested against Man UnitedAlthough this sounds like positive news on the injury front, there is arguably no need for Liverpool to rush Konate back into contention next weekend.The former RB Leipzig stopper has had plenty of fitness problems in the past, and pushing him to be ready for such a big game could only lead to another setback.Beyond that, Konate has been in really poor form leading up to the international break. There is some sense in giving him a break from the team anyway.Joe Gomez should come in against Man United to give Slot something different at the back, and hopefully allow a proper recovery time for Konate.Liverpool cannot afford another poor result next weekend.
They should be doing everything possible to stop that from happening, and that may include giving Konate a week off.