Ibrahima Konate reveals ‘low points’ after deaths of team-mate Diogo Jota and father – ‘I didn't have any interest in anything’
Published 04/06/2026 at 08:58 GMT+1
Former Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has said he faced a battle with depression following the deaths of his father and former team-mate Diogo Jota over the past year.
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Konate's father passed away in January, while Jota and his brother Andre Silva died in a car crash last July.
In what proved to be his final season at Anfield, Konate's form on the pitch struggled and, on Wednesday, he spoke about the mental health issues he was playing with.
"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," Konate told France Inter radio.
"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 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."
Liverpool confirmed on Sunday that Konate will leave the club this summer when his contract expires, with reports linking him to signing with Real Madrid.
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The 27-year-old is a part of France's squad for this summer's 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.
And before the tournament, Konate detailed how the shocking news of Jota's death - which came just days before Liverpool were set to begin pre-season training - affected him.
"It devastated me, I didn't have any interest in anything else at that point," he said. "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."
On top of that, Konate's father, Hamady, was dealing with a serious illness at the time, adding to the defender's mental turmoil.
"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 said. "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."
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Konate returned from compassionate leave a few weeks after his father's death, scoring in his first appearance back.
But the France international said that he never felt quite right afterwards.
"There was never a moment when I felt like I was on the mend," he explained. "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."
In his final season at Liverpool, Konate played 51 times in all competitions, helping Liverpool to fifth in the Premier League and the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
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