Liverpool place faith in Jacquet
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.
In six months from last summer through to January 2026, Liverpool agreed deals for five centre backs who were aged 20 or under at the time - Leoni, Ndiaye, Ndukwe, Noah Adekoya and Jacquet
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
