by Gregors Spricis
Faycal Konate has become one of the main talking points in the Czech press in recent days, following the offer made by Slavia Prague to RFS for the young Burkina Faso forward.
The 19-year-old, 1.97m tall striker finished the season with 10 goals and one assist, shining in his seven appearances while on loan at Daugavpils in the summer, which led to his first call-up to the Burkina Faso national team in August.
This week, it triggered an offer by Slavia Prague, with, according to news portal AfricaFoot, Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais, Club Brugge, Sparta Prague, Braga, and many more also keeping tabs on the young forward.
His playing profile has drawn comparisons to Tolu Arokodare, a striker who previously made a name for himself in Latvia before transitioning to top-level football, where he now competes in the English Premier League for Wolves.
So without further ado, let’s jump right into it…
Loan spell at Daugavpils
Konate had already appeared in eight games for RFS reserves team and scored five goals there before being loaned out to Daugavpils as the club looked to give him more game time in the highest tier of Latvian football. That was the place where Konate’s qualities really shone bright – acceleration, duels, agility, dribbling, technique – after just eight appearances, he was already recalled back to the first team of RFS.
Aerial threat
Two of his league goals with Daugavpils were scored with his head, proving his threat in the air, which is no surprise knowing his height of 197 centimetres. Here’s his goal against Super Nova, for instance.
Konate is clearly being marked right before the cross. However, right before it’s taken, he uses his agility to lose his marker and time his run perfectly just before the ball is not in an unreachable height for a player of his size.
His goal against the current Latvia champions Riga also came with a header. In this situation, it didn’t help the opposition to put four players with an average height of 1.90m around him.
Around him and Boubou Diallo are Marko Regža (1.95m), Antonijs Černomordijs (1.90m), Baba Musah (1.88m), and Raivis Jurkovskis (1.87m). Nevertheless, the delivery perfectly landed on Konate’s head, with him beating Musah in the air and giving Daugavpils the lead.
The aerial game is actually the first part where the comparison with Wolves’ forward Tolu Arokodare is drawn. Arokodare has won 6.52 aerials per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season with a conversion rate of 53.8%. Last season in Virsliga, Konate won 5.58 aerial duels per 90 minutes with a conversion rate of 47%. Not too far off.
Movement with ball
For his height, Faycal Konate is incredibly good at controlling the ball not only in a post-up play, but also in dribbling and beating his defender. We’ll show examples for both situations.
Here he is in a duel with his marker. He’s positioned himself very well and is waiting for the ball to come down and control it afterwards.
With one touch, he takes it down with his chest and gets away from the defender to continue his team’s attack.
Taking on players is another trait of his that he’s done at quite a high success rate of 70% last season. He’s not afraid of taking on his man and opening the space up for him or his teammates, recording 3.5 successful take-ons per 90 minutes in the league last season. Comparing it to Arokodare’s 1.09 leaves the Nigerian forward in the dust.
Here’s a good example of how he used it to score his goal against Jelgava last year.
Konate is with the ball on his half of the pitch, starting a counter with a defender and a goalkeeper to beat.
He takes on the defender and breezes past with ease.
Konate keeps running, eventually entering the opposition’s box.
However, instead of taking a shot, he takes on the keeper who’s come out, goes around him, and smashes the ball into the back of the net.
Here’s him doing it in a tight space surrounded by three defenders.
These are just some of his highlights from the 404 minutes played for Daugavpils before RFS recalled him.
The end of the season with RFS
Following his recall, Konate played just 169 minutes in the remainder of the season, but it was enough to leave his mark on the first team. A goal in the Latvian Cup against Metta, an assist against Liepāja, and a penalty earned against Metta in the league. A goal involvement every 56 minutes.
Let’s look at the assist against Liepāja, which highlights his quick thinking and decision-making.
An incoming cross is poorly dealt with by Liepāja as it lands in front of the unmarked Konate.
Konate quickly reads the situation and raises his leg to shoot. However, instead of shooting, he fakes the shot and tricks the whole defense by passing the ball to Jānis Ikaunieks, who’s completely free on his right. Ikaunieks, of course, scores.
Breakdown summary
Eventually, what you get is a dangerous all-around striker with tons of potential who’s dangerous both in the air and on the ground. Not only can he finish the play, but also create one with his fast pace and silky feet. There’s no wonder that many recognisable clubs in European football are eyeing him.
A big part in Konate’s recent development was played by ex-Liverpool and Rangers player Gregory Vignal. The Frenchman worked as the head of youth development at RFS before leaving to become the Blackburn Rovers U21s head coach at the end of the fall.
A potential transfer would mark another milestone for RFS in developing and showcasing young international talent on the European stage.
