Ibrahima Konate is set to leave Liverpool at the end of the month, and the French center-back has opened up on battling depression following the deaths of Diogo Jota and his own father during the season.
18:21, 03 Jun 2026Updated 18:26, 03 Jun 2026
Ibrahima Konate
Ibrahima Konate spoke about how Diogo Jota's death affected him(Image: Getty Images)
Ibrahima Konaté has opened up about how the heartbreaking death of Diogo Jota and the passing of his father plunged him into a battle with depression during his final season with Liverpool.
Konate will depart Anfield at the end of this month after five years at the club, having been unable to agree fresh terms, with a free transfer to Real Madrid widely anticipated.
It proved an arduous concluding campaign for the 27 year old — currently on international duty with France as Les Bleus prepare for the World Cup — which was overshadowed from the outset by Jota's tragic death last summer.
Jota and his brother Andre Silva were killed in a road collision in Spain in July, as the Portuguese forward was making his way back to Merseyside ahead of pre-season training.
With Andy Robertson, who is also departing on a free transfer, and Curtis Jones having recently spoken publicly about Jota's death, Konate has offered further poignant insight into the devastating toll it took on the dressing room, reports the Liverpool Echo.
"Even today it's hard to believe," he said, speaking to France Inter radio station. "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 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 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."
Konate continued: "You go back to football because you have no choice. 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."
Ibrahima Konate and Diogo Jota
Konate and Jota were teammates at Liverpool for four years(Image: 2025 Liverpool FC)
Konate was among numerous Liverpool players to experience a decline in performance during the autumn period, with the defender revealing he was additionally impacted by his father Hamady's illness, who subsequently passed away in January.
"At the start of the season, my father was in hospital for several weeks," he explained. "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: 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." Konate returned ahead of schedule from compassionate leave to bolster an injury-ravaged Liverpool side in late January.
He reflected: "There was never a moment when I felt like I was on the mend. 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, 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."
The French defender also spoke candidly about his recent mental health struggles, delivering a powerful message to fellow professionals in the game.
"There are low points, there's depression," he said. "And I think depression is something much deeper, 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.
"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.
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"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."