‘There are low points’: Ibrahima Konaté reveals struggles in year of personal tragedy

Ibrahima Konaté has spoken about the struggles he faced in a year of personal tragedy in which the death of his former Liverpool teammate Diogo Jota was followed by that of his father. The France international’s form was affected but it was not until January, when his dad, Hamady, died after a long illness, that it became apparent the personal turmoil the 27-year-old had been dealing with. “There are low points, there’s depression,” said the defender, who appears poised to join Real Madrid after not renewing his Liverpool contract . “You can suffer from depression in football too; there’s no need to be ashamed to say so. “It’s true that I’ve often heard players say they were suffering from depression and that fans or people on the outside didn’t understand because they were earning a lot of money. But no, that’s rubbish and you shouldn’t say that. “Depression is personal; it’s deep inside you. When you’re depressed, it starts in the heart, goes up to the brain and takes over your whole body. For me, that’s what’s hard, and we need to talk about it.” On the crash which killed his neighbour Jota and Jota’s brother André Silva on the eve of pre-season training Konaté said: “It devastated me. I didn’t have any interest in anything else at that point. “You go back to football because you have no choice. We’re employees at a club that pays us every month, so we have duties. We had no choice but to go back on the field and play for him and his family – as well as ourselves. …