A Look at the talented Frenchman.
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00:00Well, continuing looking at individuals, and obviously we've mentioned there's a lot of futures in the balance going into this summer, especially at Liverpool.
00:11Ibrahima Kanate, we mentioned him before, he sort of stepped up fantastically into this role, suffered with a couple of injuries last season especially.
00:19What do you make of his impact at the club and then looking into the future, can you see them really making a stance on his steel?
00:26Because, you know, as much as big names are up in the summer, he's also up next summer as well, so quite an interesting one with him.
00:34Where do you sort of stand and where do Liverpool fans stand on him and his impact this season?
00:39He's been imperious, to be honest with you. He's always been a player who's been impressive since he arrived from Leipzig four years ago.
00:47When he arrived, he was a young centre-half, he had someone like Joe Mata ahead of him, Joe Gomez was coming back from an injury.
00:55But by the end of his first season, he was out-and-out Liverpool's first-tree centre-half.
01:01He started the Champions League final alongside Virgil van Dijk, he started up big games.
01:08But as you said, he has had injuries, struggled to stay fit this season.
01:13He's just had the one injury, a knee injury, and that was only for about a month.
01:18So Liverpool have found a way to manage him better.
01:23In terms of centre-half partnerships, is there a better one than van Dijk and Kanate at the minute?
01:30Arsenal fans will argue Saliba and Gabriel are one of the two performances against Manchester City.
01:38They were just in the way of everything.
01:41And Kanate, he's 25, 26, he's only just coming into his peak years.
01:46And Liverpool fans definitely want to see him sign up to a new deal.
01:51Now, obviously a lot has been made about van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah.
01:57But he and Kanate's deal runs out next summer.
02:01He was put up before a Champions League game against Lille, and he confirmed the talks have been ongoing.
02:08But there's still nothing that's been signed yet, which Liverpool fans will be a little bit worried, of course.
02:18PSG have been linked, that's Kanate's home country, will he want to go back there?
02:27Real Madrid, as well, are a potential suitor, supposedly.
02:32And Real Madrid are difficult to turn down, aren't they?
02:35And they need defenders, given the issues that they've had injury-wise this season.
02:41But we would like to hope that Liverpool see Kanate as a player for the present and for very much the future as well.
02:49And they can sort out a deal, because it would be a massive blow if they can't keep him.
02:53Two of the centre-backs, Joe Gomez, are currently out injured.
02:57And Gerald Quanter hasn't played too much football this season after a break-out campaign last term.
03:04So there's a bit of inconsistency in that position.