Liverpool hero John Barnes says Ibrahima Konate has a big future at Anfield.

The France U-21 international was purchased for £36million from RB Leipzig in the spring of 2021 and has been steadily eased into the first team fold under Jurgen Klopp.

Speaking to BonusCodeBets, Barnes said: "Ibrahima Konaté is a player for the future and one who will eventually take over this defence. It will take Ibrahima sometime to bed himself into this team, similarly to Fabinho when he first arrived at the club," Barnes claimed.

"The fact that Joel is doing so well and playing regularly doesn't necessarily spell the end for the likes of Joe Gomez at Anfield either.

"If you look at the age of the other central defenders, Ibrahima Konaté aside Gomez is one of the youngest. Joe [Gomez] is a fantastic player and an England international, I'm sure Liverpool would love to keep him too.

"All of Liverpool's defenders are good players, you can see that whenever they are playing alongside Virgil Van Dijk.

"Everyone could see Joe Gomez's improvement when he played with Van Dijk.

"Playing alongside Virgil, Liverpool's defenders show what they are really capable of, and so seeing how well Joel Matip has done this year hasn't been surprising at all."