As part of the new Shapeshifters event in EA FC 25, a defender has transformed into a goalkeeper. In the game, he does his job so well that he has immediately become the most valuable keeper in Ultimate Team, as he has a few advantages over his goalkeeper colleagues. MeinMMO author Thomas Dummer has tested him himself and is thrilled.
Who is this defender that has switched to goal? The new goalkeeper from FC Liverpool is called Ibrahima Konaté, at least in Ultimate Team. The Frenchman, who forms a strong defensive duo with teammate van Dijk in real football, is one of the new players in Shapeshifters Team 1 and puts on the goalkeeper gloves in FC 25.
With a rating of 98, Konaté is immediately the strongest goalkeeper in the game, surpassing strong competitors like Vicario (Spurs), Donnarumma (PSG), and Costa (Porto). Like the strongest goalkeepers, he masters every goalkeeper PlayStyle at least at silver level. With “Great Reach” and “Footwork,” he has both important PlayStyles for goalkeepers that better protect you against ground and distance shots, even at gold.
Why Konaté is ahead of most of his colleagues in 2 aspects, you will find out after the short video.
Konaté in goal: fast and precise like a defender
Why is Konaté better than his colleagues? Although Konaté can no longer rely on his defensive PlayStyles in his new position, he has retained some attributes from his original defensive position.
Thus, the Frenchman, together with Shapeshifters goalkeeper colleague Kompany, is one of the fastest keepers in the game. With a speed of 85, Konaté can quickly rush out of his goal to narrow the shooting angle for approaching strikers.
Moreover, Konaté is the perfect goalkeeper to fabricate an orderly build-up play. He possesses 3 passing PlayStyles, including “Through Pass” and “Advanced Pass” in gold. Thus, he can easily serve as your first playmaker and deliver both low and high balls with perfect precision and good passing sharpness to his teammates.
An aspect not to be underestimated is that with a height of 1.94 m and a weight of 95 kg, he is quite a powerhouse. This means he can cover the goal well with his stature and is hard to overcome in one-on-one situations.
Is Konaté really as good as a real goalkeeper? After 10 matches with Shapeshifters Konaté in the Fut Champions Weekend League, I can answer the question with a clear “Yes.” The Frenchman has the same animations as a real keeper in FC 25 and behaves like a goalkeeper in terms of positioning.
I have built around smaller goalkeepers like TOTY-Casillas or FUT-Immortals-Buffon this year. Compared to those goalkeepers, Konaté feels like a massive wall in goal, but he has equally strong reflexes and saves as the smaller, more agile keepers.
Whoever wants to put Konaté in goal needs to reach deeper into their pockets. The Shapeshifters version costs over 300,000 coins on the transfer market in Ultimate Team (as of June 16, 2025) and is thus the most expensive keeper in the game.
If you want to convince yourself that defenders can also be strong goalkeepers, we recommend you Shapeshifters Kompany. He has undergone the same transformation from defender to goalkeeper as Konaté. However, Kompany is nearly 300,000 coins cheaper. A well-known streamer wasted over 3 million in EA FC 25, only to find out that his player is worse than before.
