Ibrahima Konate Opens Up on Depression Following Deaths of Diogo Jota and Father

• Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has revealed he battled depression during the 2025-26 season after the deaths of teammate Diogo Jota and his father.
• The France international said Jota’s death “devastated” him and admitted he struggled to cope with multiple personal tragedies.
• Konate has urged others to speak openly about mental health, saying depression can affect anyone regardless of success or wealth.

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has spoken candidly about his battle with depression during his final season at Anfield, revealing that the deaths of teammate Diogo Jota and his father left him struggling to cope both personally and professionally.

The France international endured an emotionally devastating year after Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva were killed in a car crash last July. Konate was then dealt another heartbreaking blow when his father, Hamady, passed away in January following a long illness.

Speaking to France Inter, Konate explained how the tragedies affected his mental health and challenged misconceptions surrounding depression in professional football.

“There are low points, there’s depression. You can suffer from depression in football too; there’s no need to be ashamed to say so,” Konate said.

“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.”

Konate said the loss of Jota, who lived near him during their time on Merseyside, had a profound impact on his life.

“It devastated me. I didn’t have any interest in anything else at that point,” he admitted.

“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. There’s no way of getting over it, but you learn to live with it.”

The defender also revealed that he was simultaneously dealing with the reality of his father’s declining health, creating an overwhelming emotional burden.

“I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know whether I should go home and stop playing, because the team needed me too,” he said.

“I didn’t know who to talk to about it, so I kept it all to myself. And this is the advice I’d give to everyone: when you’re feeling down or something’s going on, you need to talk to those around you.

“It can help you and do you good. I didn’t talk about it and kept it to myself.”

Doctors later informed the family that his father’s condition was terminal, although the speed of his decline came as a shock.

“The doctors then told us he didn’t have long to live, but we didn’t know it would happen so quickly,” Konate added.

Despite taking compassionate leave following his father’s death, Konate returned earlier than expected to help Liverpool navigate an injury crisis. However, he acknowledged that mentally he never fully recovered throughout the campaign.

“There was never a moment when I felt like I was on the mend,” he said.

“All of these tragic events happened so quickly and as soon as I felt like I was getting my head above water, something else happened.”

Konate made 51 appearances across all competitions during the 2025-26 season, starting 49 matches, but admitted he struggled to consistently reach the performance levels he had shown during previous years at Liverpool as the club finished fifth in the Premier League.

The 27-year-old is now closing in on a move to Real Madrid after confirming he will leave Liverpool this summer. Despite the difficulties of the past year, he credits the support of those around him for helping him continue.

“I had the support of all these fans, who are exceptional at Liverpool, my teammates and especially my family but I also had to learn how to get back on my feet on my own because the team needed me more than ever and I know that my father would have wanted me to get back.”

Konate has been selected in Didier Deschamps’ 26-man France squad for the 2026 World Cup, where Les Bleus will once again be among the favourites to challenge for the title.