Liverpool were largely awful in their goalless draw against Fulham on Saturday, but John Aldridge was impressed by what he saw from one Reds player.
About the only positive to stem from that match was a second consecutive clean sheet in the Premier League for Andoni Iraola’s side, and even that was just about achieved thanks to the heroics of Jeremy Jacquet.
The 21-year-old, who only came to Anfield this summer, bailed out Alisson Becker and Ryan Gravenberch with a heroic last-ditch clearance to thwart Gonzalo Garcia in the early stages against the Cottagers.
It’s not his first such rescue act either, having also pulled off a goal-saving block against Nottingham Forest last month, and Aldridge believes the French younger is already an upgrade on the man he’s replaced at Liverpool.
The former Reds striker wrote in his latest column for the Liverpool Echo: ‘Jeremy Jacquet is a better player than Ibrahima Konate. He’s far better than Konate, at the same age at least.
‘From what we’ve seen, he looks the real deal. I think Giovanni Leoni, if he can get over his injury, he’ll be a really good addition too.
‘We don’t know what’s going to happen with Virgil van Dijk obviously, after this year, with his contract expiring; so that is a plus, the two of them, centre-half wise. The future in that position looks bright. We just need more of that elsewhere in the team.’
Liverpool put plenty of faith in Jacquet by signing him from Rennes for an initial £55m earlier this year (BBC Sport), despite making just 57 senior appearances prior to his Reds debut, but he’s already showing why Anfield chiefs were prepared to spend big to land him.
His heroics against Forest and Fulham effectively spared us from losing both games and suffering an even worse start to the season, and it wasn’t just his clearance from Garcia on Saturday which marked him out as our standout performer.
The statistics below from Sofascore indicate how impressively he played, and Liverpool Echo reporter Theo Squires noted how the 21-year-old ‘brought a certain je ne sais quoi to proceedings as he dominated defensively – and that was despite playing through pain at the end’.
We’re not here to debate the merits of Jacquet versus Konate, but what we can say with confidence is that the summer arrival has taken very quickly to life in the Premier League, something which often isn’t the case for players who join from overseas at such a young age.
We’re wary of getting carried away by his performances after only five matches for the Reds, but the early signs from the centre-back are hugely promising. If he’s this good now, just think of the levels he could reach once he reaches his mid-20s and has a few seasons at Anfield behind him!
Welcome to our Live Comments section, where new comments will appear automatically
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
Notify me of new posts by email.
