What Liverpool could anticipate from Manu Kone: “There aren’t many like him”

Liverpool need a midfielder and would be interested in Manu Kone. So, here’s the view of someone who has been watching it closely.

The Reds have been linked with several players this summer, but few have been reported as consistently as Kone.
2023

Liverpool need a midfielder and would be interested in Manu Kone. So, here’s the view of someone who has been watching it closely. The Reds have been linked with several players this summer, but few have been reported as regularly as Kone.

Merseyside reporter David Lynch has written that Liverpool have “contacted” Borussia Mönchengladbach for the France youth international.

Things calmed down a little before the European U21 Championship, where Kone played for France alongside fellow Liverpool target Khephren Thuram.
With transfer deals likely to pick up steam after the tournament, we wanted to find out more about the 22-year-old Kone.

They would have a promising player – someone who has already had a few solid seasons with Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga; Someone who shines even at a struggling club; someone who gambled regularly; And someone who, looking at the defensive side of the game, has worked incredibly hard.

He has sides to his game that need to be resolved, there’s no doubt about that. He gets too many yellow cards, makes a few hasty challenges here and there.

But in terms of breaking up the game, in terms of getting a team moving, that’s something he absolutely can do.

For example, if you think about what Fabinho is doing for Liverpool, this is the kind of atmosphere you are looking at.
There aren’t many midfielders like him at that level. Can Gladbach sell?
I think they should

Marcus Thuram went free, Ramy Bensebaini went free, Lars Stindl went.
If you look at marketable assets, they had guys like Florian Neuhaus — he took a little step back.
Money is in short supply, they have not retrained for Europe.

So they’re in a position where if they could get between £30m and £40m for Kone, that would just be part of the game and I think they would accept that. How was it last season when your team finished tenth?

I certainly don’t think his performance has collapsed.
I find it difficult because Gladbach is in a rebuilding phase. It was a strange season because Daniel Farke only lasted one season.

I think we knew there were players who wanted to leave, almost a third of the starting eleven wanted to leave. So it was still a difficult situation, but he was constant.

You have to keep in mind that he was injured and it looked like he wouldn’t start the season.
He hadn’t been very involved in pre-season and Farke had talked about involving him in this season.

In the end, he really got going and played for many minutes.
He was an important part of the team. What I also like is that he performed in big competitions.

Can Kone develop his offensive skills?

I think the attacking side of his game is something that needs to be developed because at the moment for Gladbach he is a type of person who wins back.

Kone, I think, is much more (than Gabri Veiga) in the mold of what Liverpool generally want from their central midfielders under Jurgen Klopp.

You look at the challenges, he’s been with Jude Bellingham for most of the season in that sense. He’s someone who puts his foot inside, he’s someone who can conquer the ball.

I can see why Liverpool are associated with him as he has many of the qualities Klopp would want in a midfielder, including that crazy work rate that he requires.

Would it improve Liverpool’s first team?

Not now.
I think it wouldn’t be a problem if I left him, but I don’t expect him to become a first-team regular right away.

But when you say that, you look at his career as a rookie and he has defied expectations on several occasions. I think when he came over from Gladbach they saw him as a long-term project, but he started the games very, very quickly and once he did that he became a regular at the first team.