Bambasé Conté: Who is the latest Germany player capped by Jürgen Klopp?
Bambasé Conté has won his first Germany cap after helping Elversberg to a maiden Bundesliga promotion last term, but what else is there to know about Hoffenheim’s rising star?
Age: 23 (born: 7 July 2003)
Club: Hoffenheim
Position: Attacking midfielder/winger
Country: Germany (1 cap/0 goals)/Guinea
Key stats and facts
Conté was born in Saarbrücken to a German mother and Guinean father on 7 July 2003, and until Germany’s UEFA Nations League meeting with Greece, remained eligible for both countries.
Germany always looked likely to win that particular race, however, first capping Conté at U16 level a few months after he left Kaiserslautern’s youth academy for Hoffenheim’s in 2018. Having also been at Saarbrücken previously, subsequent loans to Karlsruhe and Elversberg give Conté’s early footballing CV an eclectic look.
It was last season at Elversberg where he really came of age, though. Conté, starting in central midfield, contributed four goals and six assists – at a rate of one every two games he played – as Die Schwarz und Weiß secured their first ever Bundesliga promotion.
Now back at Hoffenheim, Conté has started three of four Bundesliga games, coming off the bench in the other, added two assists, doing enough for Jürgen Klopp to secure his international future.
Plays a bit like: Dominik Szoboszlai
Conté’s direct goal contributions from a relatively deep starting position speak to his ability to time late breaks into the box, as well as potent shot and fine finishes. He combines line-breaking creativity with an ability to win the ball back in a high press, in a style akin to one-time RB Leipzig star Dominik Szoboszlai.
Klopp signed Szoboszlai for Liverpool in 2023, and it is perhaps unsurprising he went looking for a similar profile with his maiden Germany squads.
Watch: Szobo’s goals and assists from his final Leipzig season
Did you know?
Conté is an avid trader, regularly playing the stock market in his spare time, with former Union Berlin and Energie Cottbus midfielder Torsten Mattuschka even joking that he was the “Wolf of Elversberg Street” during last season’s loan in an interview with Sky Deutschland.
“I think a footballer's career isn't that long. You have about 10 years to earn money,” Conté explained. “And yes, you have to think about what you do with it. I started getting interested in it early on, read a lot, and also acquired a lot of knowledge through social media. And yes, I enjoy thinking about what to invest in and not just letting the money sit in my bank account.”
What they’re saying
“We’ve done a lot of tactical work and a lot of what we want comes very naturally to Bamba because it’s in his nature. He triggers the press, he’s a wonderful footballer, technically strong. He also has this ball-winning mentality that is not yet so pronounced in this team. And to have someone with you who does exactly that and, on top of that, can also play well between the lines – there are not so many of them. And that’s why we are taking a look at Bamba today.” – Klopp explaining Conté’s fast track to the national team.
“Of course, I took full advantage of that. Other players go to a hotel for the first few weeks if they don't have an apartment yet. But I can, of course, go home to my mum's, enjoy the food, and avoid those annoying hotel stays,” – Conté on joining Elversberg last season – a 15-minute drive from his Saarbrücken home
