Liverpool: How Dayot Upamecano compares to Ibrahima Konate as Arne Slot weighs up transfer 'approach'

Over the past couple of years, it has been all change on the midfield and offensive front for Liverpool, but the core of Jurgen Klopp's domineering backline has largely remained intact.

Up until the summer of 2025, Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson reprised their familiar roles in the Reds' rearguard, and to magnificent effect as Arne Slot masterminded title win number 20.

However, Alexander-Arnold is now donning the Real Madrid kit, Robertson has fallen behind Milos Kerkez in the pecking order, Van Dijk is in his mid-30s - but still as intimidating as ever - and Konate's time at Anfield could be drawing to a close.

The France international is seemingly edging closer to an exit on a free transfer in 2026, when he will almost certainly be courted by Real Madrid, and in recent days, talk of Liverpool potentially replacing him with Dayot Upamecano has ramped up.

The 26-year-old Bayern Munich defender is also in the final year of his deal, and Liverpool are apparently ready to make a formal approach to bring him to Merseyside in January, even though they are also still in hot pursuit of Marc Guehi's signature.

Ahead of Upamecano potentially replacing Konate in the Liverpool backline, Sports Mole looks at how the two centre-backs statistically compare, using data from FBref for the 2024-25 domestic season.

Ibrahima Konate vs. Dayot Upamecano: Defending

The 2024-25 season saw both Konate and Upamecano crowned national champions in the Premier League and Bundesliga respectively, although the former made 11 more top-flight starts, as Upamecano sustained a season-ending cartilage injury in the spring.

Konate therefore unsurprisingly ranks higher when it comes to several defensive actions, making more blocks, tackles and clearances than the Bayern Munich defender, but noticeably fewer interceptions.

In fact, Konate's total of 17 interceptions in the 2024-25 Premier League season is only half of Upamecano's 34 in the Bundesliga, and he was part of a Liverpool side that shipped 41 top-flight goals compared to Bayern's 32.

Furthermore, Konate also made three errors leading to a shot in last season's Premier League - an average of one every 10 starts - whereas Upamecano made only one such mistake in his 20 Bundesliga appearances from the first whistle.

However, the Liverpool man is vastly superior when it comes to challenge success rate, as Konate successfully tackled a dribbler 71.4% of the time, whereas Upamecano won 16 of his 29 such battles for 55.2%.

In addition, Konate won 71.8% of his aerial duels in last season's Premier League campaign, compared to Upamecano's less impressive 58.4% in the German top division, although the 6ft 4in Liverpool man does have a three-inch height advantage over the 6ft 1in Bayern defender.

Upamecano nevertheless made more recoveries - 115 to 98 - during his shorter time on the field, and he also committed seven fewer fouls than Konate, but he was booked on one more occasion (six to five).

Ibrahima Konate vs. Dayot Upamecano: Passing

Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold have often taking the passing acclaim for Liverpool, but in signing Upamecano, the Reds would be obtaining a significant upgrade on Konate in that regard.

During the 2024-25 Premier League season, Konate found a teammate with 55% of his long passes - succeeding with 94 of his 171 attempts - but Upamecano registered a marvellous 83.1% success rate with passes totalling 30 yards or more (147 from 177).

The Bundesliga star also holds a slight edge over Konate in mid-range passing (96.7% to 95%) and short passes (93.9% to 93.8%), and his overall success rate of 93.9% from the 2024-25 season was superior to Konate's 90.2%.

Upamecano's progression also stands out when compared to the Liverpool defender, as he played 197 passes into the final third compared to Konate's 143 and also totalled 137 progressive passes to Konate's 115.

However, the latter interestingly has the edge on Upamecano for key passes - creating 10 chances in last season's top flight to Upamecano's seven - and also playing nine passes into the penalty area, whereas the Bavarians' centre-back registered just three.

Ibrahima Konate vs. Dayot Upamecano: Possession

A competent carrier of the ball, Upamecano progressed the ball over 500 yards more than Konate in the 2024-25 top-flight season, amassing a total distance of 4,165 yards towards the opponent's goal compared to the Liverpool defender's 3,603.

Upamecano also accrued 27 carries into the final third of the pitch, while Konate only entered that area of the pitch on 15 occasions with the ball at his feet, although he could afford to hang back while Alexander-Arnold shouldered the creative burden.

The Liverpool man nevertheless bests Upamecano for pure progressive carries with 25 compared to his compatriot's 17, while both men attempted six take-ons and succeeded with three of them for a 50% win rate.

Both centre-backs took the majority of their touches in the middle third of the pitch, but Konate amassed significantly more in his own defensive third with 928 compared to Upamecano's 626, as well as 223 in his own penalty box to Upamecano's 96.

Ibrahima Konate vs. Dayot Upamecano: Attacking

Goals and assists will not be high on the Liverpool recruitment team's priority list when it comes to scoping out new centre-backs, and between them, Konate and Upamecano only registered five direct contributions between them in the 2024-25 league season.

Konate claimed one goal and two assists in the Premier League, while Upamecano scored twice in the Bundesliga but failed to set up a teammate.

Konate's solitary strike - a header against Wolverhampton Wanderers - saw him under-perform his Expected Goals ratio of 1.7, whereas Upamecano's two efforts against Eintracht Frankfurt and Heidenheim meant he marginally over-performed his 1.2 xG.

The Bundesliga champion has proven to be slightly more competent in front of goal, having found the target with six of his 13 shots in the German top flight last term, whereas 16 of Konate's 19 attempts in the Premier League were either high, wide or both.

In terms of creativity, both players registered just over one shot-creating action per 90 minutes, but Upamecano did not manage a single goal-creating action, whereas Konate accrued seven in the Premier League.

The onus should be on the likes of Florian Wirtz to take care of that side of things, though, and while Upamecano's fitness record and aerial ability may raise a few alarm bells, the Bayern man would bring a passing dimension that Konate lacks if the latter decides that he wants out.