This is called seducing your audience.

For his first press conference with the France team, which he joined following the injury of Raphaël Varane, Ibrahima Konaté did not deflate.

It's quite the opposite.

Always smiling, often laughing, the Liverpool defender spoke of his somewhat hasty arrival in the Blues when he thought he had the right to breathe a little.

“I was on a boat with my friends in Greece when I heard the news (laughs).

We were having fun, and then I was looking for my phone and I see two missed calls.

I decide to call back because I don't know the number.

For five minutes, I was lost, I saw my friends dancing.

When it came out in the media it was a huge pride for me, my family, I was very happy.

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Van Dijk as role model and mentor

Welcomed by a group that includes many players that he was able to rub shoulders with in a training center and among the young people of the France team, the Scouser, although relaxed, is not there to make up the numbers.

Now that he is in Blue, he has more than ever the World Cup in Qatar in his sights.

“It's a short-term goal, but I didn't think the French team would arrive so quickly.

It makes me want to work even more to be in Qatar with the group next season.

“And then as long as we are at it, why not be a holder, too?

“It's a goal to be a starter in the France team, Konaté does not hide, especially when you are a starter in one of the biggest clubs in the world.

But there are very great players in the France team, some with much more experience.

It's up to me to do the work in the club.

In Liverpool, the young Frenchman plays alongside Virgil Van Dijk whom he considers "the best defender in the world" and with whom he says he has learned a lot this season on the side of Anfield.

Given the recent defensive fragility of the Blues, this knowledge could quickly prove useful.

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