Jeremy Jacquet: Why Liverpool are ready to put their faith in £60m France centre-back | Football News

Liverpool have big hopes for Jeremy Jacquet having invested £60m to bring the highly regarded young central defender to Anfield this summer. That faith looks well placed as the Frenchman prepares to make his first appearance for the club.

Originally signed as an understudy to the established centre-back partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, with a view to eventually succeeding that duo alongside teenage defender Giovanni Leoni, Jacquet now looks set to replace his fellow Paris-born defender after Konate’s departure on a free transfer at the end of last season.

Joe Gomez was in contention to line up alongside Van Dijk in Liverpool’s Premier League opener at Newcastle United, live on Sky Sports, only for the long-serving defender’s injury curse to strike again in pre-season.

And with 19-year-old Leoni, brought in from Parma last summer as Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group looked to bring down the average age of the first-team squad, still recovering from the ACL he cruelly sustained on his Reds bow in September, Jacquet’s own debut has now been fast-tracked.

The 21-year-old has himself only just returned from the shoulder problem that prematurely ended his season with Rennes just days after agreeing to move to Liverpool, although his planned debut against Leeds United on Sunday was delayed with him still feeling discomfort and head coach Andoni Iraola wanting to be “careful” with his new recruit.

However, there is growing optimism that he could return for one of the club’s final two pre-season friendlies at Anfield, against AS Monaco on Sunday or Como a week later. Iraola is understandably eager to see him alongside Van Dijk before the season gets under way with the trip to St James’ Park on August 23.

When Jacquet agreed to join Liverpool in February, turning down Chelsea and Bayern Munich in the process, Arne Slot was still in charge at Anfield. But with the Dutchman having since departed, the defender will now begin life on Merseyside under a new head coach as Liverpool look to bounce back from a disjointed Premier League title defence last season.

One of the biggest issues for the reigning champions last season was at the back. Only Iraola’s Bournemouth conceded more goals among the teams that finished in the top 10, while Liverpool’s tally of 53 goals against was their highest in a 38-game Premier League campaign.

Of those 53 goals, 20 came from set-pieces – another unwanted Premier League record and a glaring weakness that resurfaced in Sunday’s collapse against Leeds, when Liverpool’s makeshift defence conceded four goals in just 25 second-half minutes, including two from long throws.

All of which seems a significant burden for a player with fewer than 100 senior appearances to his name in all competitions, including just 37 league outings, to shoulder. Yet there is a reason Arsenal were also tracking Jacquet closely last summer before Liverpool moved decisively to invest £60m in January, making him the fourth-most expensive defender aged 21 or under in football history.

Jacquet, who hails from the Bondy commune in Paris, came through Rennes’ renowned academy, which in recent years has produced and sold the likes of Desire Doue, Mathys Tel and Lesley Ugochukwu. However, it is the Frenchman who now stands as the Brittany club’s record sale, surpassing even Ousmane Dembele and Doue.

While attempting to break into the Rennes first team, the Frenchman was sent on two loan spells at Clermont, the second of which came in Ligue 2. Explaining his decision to L’Équipe, he said: “It was either stay at Rennes with little playing time or go and discover something new. I chose minutes on the pitch – and it paid off.”

Rennes paid nearly €1m (£856,000) to cut short that second loan spell in February 2025, with Jacquet returning to establish himself as a key figure in their first team. Such was his importance to the Ligue 1 club that they insisted on keeping him for the remainder of last season as part of negotiations with Liverpool during the winter window.

“He had a loan at Clermont that went well,” European football expert Kevin Hatchard told Sky Sports News. “He was playing for Rennes, but it shows you just how much they rated him that they really didn’t want to let him go in this [January] window.

“His coach Habib Beye said, ‘If we let him go this season, we’ll have to downgrade our goals for the season’.”

Liverpool’s original plan was for Jacquet to learn from his idol Van Dijk – “If I want to go as high as possible, I must immerse myself in him and others” – while gradually being introduced to the starting line-up. That approach reflected his relative lack of experience, with the defender having only been operating at the highest level since January 2024, never having played in Europe, and arriving at Anfield with just 8,000 senior minutes under his belt.

Those best-laid plans have since changed, however, accelerating Jacquet’s path towards an earlier-than-expected Reds debut. Yet his relative lack of top-level experience is unlikely to be a concern for Iraola.

That is because the new arrival is a natural leader in the Van Dijk mould, having captained France at every age-group level from U17 to U20. He also wore the armband at the 2024 U19 Euros, where he was named in the team of the tournament.

His physical profile and raw attributes should also make him well suited to the increasingly demanding and combative nature of the Premier League.

Jacquet is a ball-playing defender who began his career as a midfielder, modelling his game on Paul Pogba.

“I wanted to play like him,” he recalls, only for Rennes’ scouts to see a different future for the youngster and convince a reluctant Jacquet that his path lay in defence. “They were right,” he admits. “They knew better.”

That midfield background has helped make him comfortable in possession, with a calmness on the ball reminiscent of Van Dijk, as well as the Dutchman’s elegance and athleticism. “I’m calm on the ball, maybe I can look a bit nonchalant, but I’m focused,” he explained. “What defines me is playing out well, breaking lines with the right pass.”

The numbers back that assessment up. The right-footed Frenchman completed 90.4 per cent of his passes in Ligue 1 last season (973 out of 1,076), while, crucially for a defender about to embark on a Premier League career, his athleticism also makes him a commanding presence in the air.

Across 19 top-flight appearances last term, the 6ft 3in centre-back recorded the third-highest aerial duel success rate in Ligue 1 at 75.5 per cent. He also ranked among the top 20 for ground duels won, finishing second at Rennes with a 62 per cent success rate.

Opta data further highlights Jacquet’s defensive contribution, with the youngster averaging 4.9 clearances and winning possession 4.14 times per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 last season. As Hatchard summarised, he is “a rising star who is good on the ball, with a good passing range, athletic and great in the air.”

Someone who has followed much of Jacquet’s, albeit still fledgling, career to date is French football expert Julien Laurens, who is convinced Liverpool have made the right call with this signing.

“He’s the real deal,” he told Sky Sports News. “I know he’s only 21, he hasn’t played for France and he hasn’t played in the Champions League or Europa League.

“He still has a long way to go, but he’s been impressive since last season, when Rennes recalled him from his loan spell in the second division, and he has continued that progress this season under [manager] Habib Beye.

He’s the real deal. You can’t get it wrong. He is going to be amazing. He reminds me of when William Saliba burst on to the scene in France

“You can’t get it wrong. He is going to be amazing. He reminds me of when William Saliba burst on to the scene in France with Saint-Etienne, or Wesley Fofana.

“It’s about how much you value that potential and talent. You would pay a lot of money for someone who hasn’t really proved much. It’s a lot of money for such a young player.”

If the young France defender can prove to be anywhere near as good as his compatriot at the Emirates, Liverpool will have found themselves a worthy successor to legendary captain Van Dijk.