Ibrahima Konate says he would love to win a trophy for his “incredible” team-mate Mo Salah, hoping the striker can win the Ballon d’Or for the first time.

Asked about Salah’s contribution to Liverpool’s title challenge, the Frenchman laughed and said: “Everything he has done since the start of the season, even since he started playing for Liverpool, is crazy. ”

He was full of praise for the 32-year-old, and why not? According to conventional wisdom, Salah’s prime should be behind him and his days at the top of football are coming to an end.

Instead, he leads the race for the Golden Boot over Erling Haaland with a goal every 57 minutes, the best figure of his career.

Most of his contributions are self-evident, but his support of his teammates in behind-closed-doors games is.

That’s what motivates Konate to return the favor, in line with his own personal ambitions and why he wants to help the striker surpass his previous best of fifth place in the Ballon d’Or and lift the trophy next October .

He said: “I really hope we can achieve great things this season because if he keeps going like this I think at the end of the season he can win the Ballon d’Or.

“He would never say that because I think his goal is just to win great wins for Liverpool. He doesn’t really think about himself, ‘Okay, I want to score more goals, I want more assists’ – He just wants to win the game.

“He just wants to share his experience with new players, young players. To me, to be such a player at his age and be so professional is unbelievable.”

Konate has been impressed by Salah but knew the heights the striker could reach before joining Anfield from RB Leipzig in 2021. Before his arrival, he didn’t know much about the abilities of defensive colleague Virgil van Dijk.

After three years of a burgeoning relationship and his emergence as the towering Dutchman’s first-choice partner, he believes the pair can more than rival Gabriel and William Saliba as the Premier League’s best centre-back pairings , and is comparable to anyone in world football.

“What a defender,” he smiled again. “When I was at Leipzig I watched some Liverpool games and I didn’t realize how good he was.

“When I got here, sometimes I thought, no, how is this possible? He’s so good. When I first got here, he gave me a lot of advice and helped me adapt.”

“Now on the court, I need him so much and I think he and I do the same. We just work together and try to be the best partners in the world.”

“Some strikers look at Virgil and say ‘OK, now I have no chance against him’. They don’t give 100 per cent.”

Arne Slott’s approach at Anfield since taking over from Jurgen Klopp has helped that chemistry and earlier this week the balance achieved by the affable manager was revealed by his predecessor Called the best in world football.

Konate is not afraid to draw comparisons between the two, believing the control brought by Slott has improved the team after nine years of “heavy metal” football under the Klopp dynasty. The numbers show it; Liverpool’s defense is tighter than it has been in three of the past four seasons.

He said: “(Trent Alexander-Arnold) helps us a lot in attack and that leaves me with a lot of space to defend. But how the manager explains to us how to defend together is a big deal for me and the team. It helps a lot.

“If you can see and compare to last season or the season before that, we were more exposed. But now when we concede goals, everyone is trying to help the team and I think we are more united.

“Nobody expects the manager to do what he has done since the start of the season. He has a good idea of ​​the game, he knows what to do and it’s not about fitting in for another team. I think that will bring a lot “It’s different for us than under Jurgen.”