Youssouf Koné (footballer, born 1995)

Youssouf Koné (born 5 July 1995) is a Malian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Belgian Pro League club Molenbeek and the Mali national team.

Club career
Koné is a youth team graduate from Lille. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 2 March 2014 in a 3–2 away win over Ajaccio. His second appearance came on 12 April 2014, a league game against Valenciennes.

Koné spent the first half of the 2017–18 season at Ligue 2 side Reims on loan after being loaned out by Head Coach Marcelo Bielsa. The full-season loan contract was terminated early when he suffered a cruciate ligament injury.

Following the departures of both Fodé Ballo-Touré to Monaco and Hamza Mendyl to Schalke 04, Koné established himself as first-choice left-back under Galtier post-Christmas In Lille's excellent 2018–19 campaign, finishing second to Paris Saint-Germain.

On 3 July 2019, he signed a contract with Lyon. The fee was estimated at €9 million. On 29 September of the following year, after just 11 league appearances, he was loaned to La Liga side Elche for one year. On 1 February 2021, Elche and Lyon, agreed to terminate the loan of Koné, due to a lack of playing time. On the same day, Koné was loaned to Turkish club Hatayspor.

On 30 August 2022, Lyon announced Koné's loan to Ajaccio for the 2022–23 season.

On 28 August 2023, Koné terminated his contract with Lyon following a mutual consent, and joined Molenbeek on a 1-year contract.

International career
Koné debuted for the Mali national team in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Benin on 6 September 2016.

Career statistics

 * Scores and results list Mali's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Koné goal.

Honors
Mali U20
 * FIFA U-20 World Cup third place: 2015