Ibrahima Konate has spoken with remarkable candour about his personal struggle with depression during the past season — a battle triggered by the loss of teammate Diogo Jota and the death of his own father within months of each other.

Jota and his brother Andre Silva were killed in a car crash in Spain last July. The grief that swept through Liverpool's dressing room was profound and, as Konate has now made clear, its effects ran far deeper than any match result.

"Depression is personal"

Speaking to France Inter radio, the 27-year-old centre-back was unambiguous: mental health struggles do not discriminate, regardless of profession or salary.

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

He pushed back firmly against the notion that wealth shields footballers from emotional suffering. "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."

A season of grief

Konate revealed he had lived near Jota, making the loss an intimate, daily reality rather than a distant tragedy. Then, in January, his father Hamady passed away following a period of illness. The defender admitted that he kept that grief private — a decision he now regrets.

"It devastated me. I didn't have any interest in anything else at that point," he said. "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."

A message to others

Rather than stay silent, Konate is now urging anyone facing similar struggles to seek support. His own experience of bottling up his grief only deepened his depression throughout the season.

"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," he said. "It can help you and do you good. I didn't talk about it and kept it to myself."

Konate is out of contract at Liverpool and is reportedly in advanced discussions over a move to Real Madrid, where he would reunite with former teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold.