Liverpool’s £60m signing shines on first outing

Jeremy Jacquet finally featured for Liverpool on Sunday, scoring in a 45-minute cameo during a 2-0 pre-season win over Como. The appearance ended a frustrating period for the 21-year-old centre-back, who missed the final three months of last season with a shoulder injury and the last few weeks with a minor knee problem.

The debut brought relief and excitement at Anfield and underlined why Fenway Sports Group sanctioned a £60m, $81m move for the France Under-21 international in January. The club is now hoping he can settle quickly and become part of a transformational new era at the back.

From patient prospect to ‘exceptional’ with the ball

Former Rennes technical director Florian Maurice remembers an 18-year-old Jacquet “itching for game time” and disappointed to be left out of the squad. “I told him to stay patient because his moment would come. I knew it,” Maurice told The Athletic.

Maurice first saw a 16-year-old Jacquet at Rennes and was struck by his profile even then. “Not quite as strong, but tall and fast — great qualities for a centre-back,” he said. “The difference was the way he was able to play out from the back. So calm and comfortable. He had good ability as a defender, but with the ball he was exceptional.”

Jacquet’s development was shaped by example. Eduardo Camavinga, two years his senior at the Rennes academy, left for Real Madrid in 2021 as the youngest player to feature for Rennes at 16 years, four months and 27 days. Maurice said Camavinga’s “detailed and focused” approach in training left a legacy that helped Jacquet’s journey.

“I think working with Virgil van Dijk on a daily basis will be a big thing and help him go to the next level,” Maurice added. Van Dijk, now in the final year of his contract, is the only Liverpool defender to cost more than Jacquet, and there is a strong chance the pair will start the Premier League season together.

Early struggles and a Parisian football education

Raised in Melun in the Île-de-France region, Jacquet grew up in the same hotbed that produced Kylian Mbappe, William Saliba and Randal Kolo Muani from Bondy, and Ibrahima Konaté, the man he is effectively replacing at Liverpool.

His early football was at AS Outre Mer du Bois l’Abbé, a tiny community club where scouts regularly visited. The son of a nurse and school caretaker, Jacquet was instilled with a strong work ethic by his parents, now divorced, and his older brother, with trusted agent Michael Manuello helping nurture his career.

He could have been a midfielder. At RC Joinville, where he joined at eight and idolised Paul Pogba, technical director Bruno Sampaio described him on the pitch as a “force of nature”. Sampaio recalled Jacquet as “technically very good and, above all, very intelligent in the way he played” with excellent vision and the ability to control the game from midfield.

Rapid growth caused problems. “He was regularly troubled by injuries because his body was changing so quickly,” Sampaio said. While with the under-12s, Jacquet was so upset by setbacks he told his coach he wanted to quit, only to return the next day with a ball at his feet.

Resilience at Rennes and Clermont

Rennes moulded Jacquet into a centre-half, noting his superb reading of the game, ball-winning and clean build-up play. Injuries persisted — back, heel, knee and eventually surgery — and he later said: “I probably played 10 matches in a year. But it made me stronger.”

Former reserve-team coach William Stanger said Jacquet had to “make sense of it all in his head” but once he grew into his body there was no looking back. “He’s a good guy who wants to work hard every day and improve. I love the way he reads the game and, for me, that’s his best quality.”

A loan to Clermont Foot in January 2024 gave him regular minutes. Even as the club was relegated from Ligue 1, Ahmet Schaefer, Clermont’s former president, praised his determination and maturity. “You could always see that pure focus in his eyes, that hunger, that willingness to get a clean sheet,” Schaefer said. “Is he really 18 years old?”

When Rennes recalled him early, Schaefer secured an early termination fee and a small percentage of a future transfer. “He was above our pay grade. Our coach explained the project and said we would expose him and send him back at a higher level but, if we’re honest, we all thought we had landed a lucky punch.”

Performances for Clermont, plus a strong showing at the Under-19 European Championship in Northern Ireland in July 2024 where France lost to Spain in the final, alerted Liverpool and Chelsea. Character checks came back glowing.

“He was humble,” Schaefer said. “Not one per cent of arrogance and every coach would wish to have a whole team of players like him. I think he has the potential to become the best defender for France.”

Schaefer’s last conversation with Jacquet ended with a request: “Come to see me at Anfield”. The Como cameo suggests that wish is on track.