Konate's secret to success: five brothers who shaped a warrior
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Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 13.10.25. | 14:04
Ibrahima's heroes - someone he looked up to during his youth days - are Diawoye, Sirima, Mamby, Sikou and Moriba
Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate revealed that his five older brothers deserve the most credit for his successful football career and life in general.
In an interview with Ouest-France, the 26-year-old centre-back opened up on the importance of a player's entourage in his development.
Konate, who pulled out of Didier Deschamps' Les Bleus squad with a minor thigh injury, believes that a player's entourage accounts for 60% of one's career.
With five older brothers to look up to - Diawoye, Sirima, Mamby, Sikou and Moriba - Ibrahima had all the family support he could possibly hope for.
"I became the player I am today thanks to each one of them", Konate said. "From my first steps at Paris Universite Club twenty years ago to Liverpool, they have always been a fundamental help."
The defender added that the respect he shows to his older brothers helps him be humble and down-to-earth. Konate revealed that, once he signed his first professional contract with RB Leipzig, he started to make a very decent living from football, but he was too afraid to show it.
"I didn't spend anything at all on hedonistic and personal pleasures. No new car, no clothes, no shoes. Nothing. I was too afraid they'd tell me I'd changed."
Eventually, one of the Konate brothers encouraged Ibrahima to treat himself, which resulted in an interesting change.
"I'm not going to lie to you: I overdid it a bit, especially with clothes."
Konate also revealed how his five older brothers help him focus on football by acting like "lightning rods".
"You have no idea how much footballers need them. Many people, more or less well-intentioned, roam around us. 95% of them come because I'm Konate, the football player, and not Ibrahima, the person. They want to take advantage of my fame, but they don't really care about me (…) As soon as someone wants to approach me, they filter them out," concluded he.
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