It is a tragedy that shook the world of football. On July 3, Liverpool striker Diogo Jota died following a car accident. News that upset his teammate at the Reds, Ibrahima Konaté. The Blues defender, who will play in the 2026 World Cup in a few days, returned to this terrible tragedy and the consequences on his mental health.
“ Even today it’s hard to do. In all honesty, there is still his locker in the dressing room (at Liverpool). Every day in training, he always accompanies us. It was brutal. I remember, I learned it when I was in Los Angeles and I didn’t believe it », Confided the man who has just announced his departure from Liverpool during an interview broadcast this Wednesday on France Inter.
“I no longer had a taste for anything at that time”
“It was something that devastated me, I no longer had a taste for anything at that point, he added. You have to know that this person, his personality… It could have happened to everyone in our team but he is the last one that each player would have chosen for it to happen. He’s someone who didn’t care about anything, he just wanted to be happy and have good times with his teammates or his family. (…) Fame (celebrity, editor’s note) didn’t interest him. Frankly, he was an exceptional guy. He could talk to everyone, the youngest and the oldest, it was crazy to have him on your team. He was also my neighbor so I shared a few more moments with him. »
Not yet recovered from the death of Diogo Jota, the 27-year-old defender was struck a few months later by the death of his father. “
I’ve never talked about it but it’s true that during the start of the season, my father went to the hospital for several weekshe revealed. And actually, in my situation, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I should go back and stop playing, because the team needed me too. I didn’t know who to discuss it with and I kept everything to myself. And this is advice that I give to everyone who will listen to me: when you feel unwell or something is happening, you have to talk about it to those around you. It can help you and do you good. I didn’t talk about it and kept it to myself. »
“You can also have depression in football”
After these two dramas in quick succession, Ibrahima Konaté explained that he agreed to be followed, evoking a depressive state into which he was plunged. All while continuing, as best we can, to try to perform on the pitch. “ There are descents, there is depression. And I think that depression is something much deeper and that it is an illness that people experience on a daily basis. You can also have depression in football, you shouldn’t be ashamed to say it. And it can be for anything and everything”explained the player trained at Sochaux.
And to conclude: “ It’s true that I often heard players who said they were depressed and that fans or people from the outside didn’t understand since they earned a lot of money. But no, that’s bullshit and you shouldn’t say that. Depression is intimate, it’s deep inside you. (…) When you have depression it starts from the heart, it goes to the brain and it takes over the whole body. For me, that’s what’s hard and we need to talk about it. »
