The French centre-half, a July 1 arrival from RB Leipzig, completed his first training session as a Red on Monday as preparations for the 2021-22 campaign got under way at a camp in Austria.
While aware of the need for the player to adapt to a new team and methods, Klopp’s excitement at working with the No.5 is clear.
Inside Training: Konate's first session on arrival day in Austria
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com from his side’s base in Salzburg, the boss said: “First of all, obviously he is very excited! I saw on social media he had his own shirt presentation in five different venues in Paris! Great.
“He is a good guy, I knew that before. Physically, because of the situation, we met now [for] the first time here – apart from the games when we played Leipzig, obviously.
“He is a good guy, he is really happy to be here. I’m really happy to have him around. He is a young boy still, unbelievably young, but experienced already. [He] played some really good stuff in the past and hopefully even better stuff in the future.
“But for him it’s now the first pre-season with us as well, we don’t know a lot about the player, that’s always how it is with new players. So we try to be careful as well, try to be in constant conversations with him about how he feels and these kinds of things. It’s a completely normal process and yeah, [it’s] really good to have him here.”
- Watch Liverpool's pre-season fixtures in Austria live and exclusive on LFCTV GO – plus training access, interviews and all the latest news. Get the first month FREE with code 2122GOFREE. Find out more at www.liverpoolfc.com/watch. T&Cs apply.