For me the big question for next season isn‘t who will partner Virgil.
I‘m concerned wether Virgil will be the same than before he‘s got injured.
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Injury (2nd serious career injury)
Semi fit (serious career injury)
Injured ALOT.
Injured ALOT.
Healthy.
A unicorn.
We need more.
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I spoke with him yesterday and he thinks he will be as good as new, no worries. 
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1 major, but then again the guy is so young.
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On a serious note I am very sure that him not playing that much in the last few months has to do with our strong interest in him and Leipzig did not want to risk having an injured player when his release clause can be activated.
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Thank you for encouraging me
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When Matip got his Season ender, Klopp alluded to him being played unfit and that we’d expected him to play through pain, and that we would now get him right.
I don’t think he will ever be a robust player, but I do think his recent continual problems might be able to be put right.
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Except unfortunately we’ve been here with him 3 maybe 4 times before. Including the summer we bought him.
One thing I think your post identifies well though is that often these players are maligned for being soft when in reality they are very often playing through pain to get onto the pitch. They just happen to have more of it than players not as unfortunate as themselves.
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I remember Hendo playing with Plantar fasciitis, which I get occasionally and I can barely fucking walk. But Hendo is nails, isn’t he.
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That’s what you’ve got to hope for. He has had a couple of decent runs uninjured for us but it seems once he gets one, the next one follows pretty quickly.
Hopefully the time away has done him good. Proper recovery and investigation into underlying issues/factors that they can put right.
Not sure I buy this. They were fighting at the top of the BL and in a cup final. Surely they’d have played their best players wouldn’t they?
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Because of our currently injured defensive players. We still look a little light at the CB position. Even with Konate.
But I believe we haven’t seen the end of Fabinho at CB. As an emergency option. Should Matip and Gomez not be ready at start of season.
While it hurts our midfield having Fabinho in defense. I think a potential incoming player like Bissouma would help in that department. Along with a fit Hendo. We should be ok.
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The six months he spent in the PL will have done him no harm - maybe some other PL clubs will be interested? 18 million seems like a fair price. He would improve a lot of PL clubs. Palace and Southampton immediately spring to mind. Hope he goes on to do well.
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Don’t know much about this lad ,but I’m sure we have had a damn good look at his injury record before bringing in another "injury prone"CB…
I fear this may mean Kabak not being proceeded with,as I don’t believe we should unload Phillips.
Looking at this dilemma the amount of times Matip ,in particular has been injured,you couldn’t keep too many,but of course that wont suit many players being 5th or 6 choice CB,not a surprise!
An older player maybe but not a young player with his career in front of him.
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It is a completely fair question but I agree with @GermanRed post. It was likely to protect the transfer money. That said, Upamecano is also leaving and he played in the final. So I don’t think we will ever know the true answer. Nagelsmann went with 5 at the back in the cup final, choosing Upamecano central with Klostermann to the right and Halstenberg to the left. Haidara and Mukiele on the wings.
It also looked like Nagelsmann was rotating all of his defenders the last 8 weeks of the season. Konate played in 5 of the last 8 matches, but was rotated every other match over the last 4.
The only thing I can offer anyone feeling uncomfortable or uneasy about this transfer is that it appears it’s definitely going to happen and he will be a Liverpool player. To that end, it’s up to supporters to decide if they want to support this kid or not.
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Maybe because that contract is already signed? So the liability is not with them? Not sure of course whether there is an injury clause but that maybe the difference with Konate, nothing is yet signed.
But Konate did not play also simply that while he is out injured, the current pairing did play pretty well? So Konate is just not going to walk back into the team when the pairing has not done serious wrong. Thats what I think anyway.
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But the Upamecano deal was done. Maybe they were worried that no one would pay the release fee if he got injured. Or he was being a dick in training.
I realise neither of these hypotheses are reassuring
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I think we confirmed our interest long ago and made it clear to Leipzig that there wouldn’t be any deal if Konate isn’t fit at the end of the season.
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Konate had been out injured for a significant period of time. Him not getting picked since returning is probably just because they wanted to retain those players they felt were playing well, and to give him maximum recovery time.
Also, if they are selling their top 2 CBs, playing those who will be there next season also makes some sense
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BBC confirming what Romano has said:
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