Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has spoken publicly about battling depression during his final season at the club following a series of devastating personal losses.
Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva tragically died in a car crash last July, while Konate’s father Hamady passed away in January after a long illness.
The 27-year-old France international’s form was visibly affected throughout his final campaign at Anfield as he endured an extraordinarily difficult personal period.
Speaking to France Inter radio, Konate was candid about his mental health struggles, insisting there should be no shame in admitting to depression in football.
“There are low points, there’s depression. You can suffer from depression in football too; there’s no need to be ashamed to say so,” he said.
“It’s true that 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.”
“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.”
Konate described Jota, who was one of his neighbours during his time on Merseyside, as having had a shattering impact on him following his death.
“It devastated me. I didn’t have any interest in anything else at that point,” he said, adding that returning to football felt like an obligation rather than a choice.
“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.”
“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.”
Alongside grieving for Jota, Konate was simultaneously carrying the burden of his father’s serious illness, unsure of whether to leave the club or continue playing.
“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 admitted.
He also reflected on isolating himself during the ordeal, offering clear advice to others going through similar struggles in private.
“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.”
“The doctors then told us he didn’t have long to live, but we didn’t know it would happen so quickly,” he added.
Konate returned early from compassionate leave in late January to help Liverpool manage an injury crisis, though he conceded things were never quite right throughout the remainder of the season.
He made 51 appearances across the 2025-26 campaign, 49 as a starter, but was unable to consistently replicate his best form as Liverpool finished fifth in the Premier League.
“There was never a moment when I felt like I was on the mend,” he said, describing how each tragedy seemed to arrive before he had recovered from the last.
“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.”
Konate, capped 27 times by France, is now part of Didier Deschamps’ 26-man World Cup squad and is closing in on a move to Real Madrid after confirming he will leave Anfield this summer.
