Karim Konaté: Red Bull gives you goals

The definitive SCOUTED50 profile.

SCOUTED50 is our collection of the fifty young talents we believe are best positioned to break into the mainstream during 2023/24. Throughout the season, we’ll be detailing all fifty in definitive profiles.

Read the full list here. Karim Konaté is the focus of the latest profile.

This profile was produced as part of a commercial collaboration with SkillCorner, SCOUTED’s official data partner. SkillCorner’s tracking and performance data is used by more than 150 of the world’s biggest clubs, leagues and confederations. Learn more.

All stats correct as of 10/05/2024 unless otherwise noted.

For the last five years, Red Bull Salzburg’s striker production has been legendary. While not all have been internally produced, the names roll off the tongue: Erling Haaland, Hwang Hee-chan, Patson Daka, Karim Adeyemi, Benjamin Šeško.

Basically every year, a young Salzburg striker scores 20-odd goals in the Austrian Bundesliga and earns themselves a big move to a top European club, or to a Premier League side with deep pockets.

The striker primed to be next is the Ivory Coast’s Karim Konaté, who has notched up 20 league goals in 1,845 minutes this season and was part of the Ivorian squad that won January’s African Cup of Nations.

Not only is Konaté a great example of the Salzburg striker pipeline in action, he is also further evidence the club can not just import players from different corners of Africa, but also develop them.

That development is principally done through Salzburg’s reserve team, FC Liefering, in the Austrian second division.

Typically, young talents from Africa will spend at least six months playing with Liefering’s reserves, regardless of hype or ability. This bedding-in period allows them to settle into their new life in Europe, with different languages, weather conditions, and professional standards to adapt to.

Naturally though, Konaté’s stint with Liefering was short. He scored 15 goals in 1,400 minutes and forced himself into some senior minutes late last season, and has been with Salzburg’s first team ever since.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing. His AFCON participation meant he lost some steam during February and March, and has taken a little while to re-adapt to the league season.

But his goal-scoring pedigree never left. He scored nine goals in his last six appearances of the season, although his rich vein of form was not able to halt a cataclysmic run of form for Salzburg that has cost them the title for the first time since 2013.

Despite this, Salzburg's travails won’t stop Konaté from being a highly coveted transfer target this summer. There’s always a team in desperate need of a number nine, and the fee required will often be enormous.

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In this profile:

• A busy runner in-behind defenses

• A master of the ‘Marcus Thuram’ role

• A flexible, do-it-all attacker

• Is a big-money move inevitable?