Liverpool's New Defender: Jacquet Shines in Konate's Absence
Liverpool did not have long to mourn Ibrahima Konate. Jeremie Jacquet has seen to that.
The 21-year-old French defender arrived from Rennes billed as a long-term project, a careful response to Konate’s move to Real Madrid on a free transfer last summer. Konate had gone with a strong Premier League reputation, a defender whose performances had often held Liverpool together.
Jacquet has not waited for the future. He has barged straight into the present.
Within weeks of pulling on a red shirt, the local press on Merseyside started to circle his name. Not as a prospect. As a pillar. His form has been so sharp that the conversation has already shifted from whether he can fill Konate’s boots to how high his own ceiling might be.
The reaction after last Saturday’s match against Fulham told its own story. In a game where Liverpool laboured, the Liverpool Echo picked Jacquet out as one of the very few who could leave Anfield with his head held high. The paper highlighted his composure, his refusal to be rushed, his ability to stay clean and clear while chaos flickered around him.
“The most distinctive thing about Jacquet is his calm nerves,” the Echo wrote, underlining how unusual it is for a 21-year-old to look so unflustered in a side still feeling its way through a transitional phase. To walk into that environment, replace Konate and look as if he has been there for years is, as the paper put it, a remarkable achievement for a player who only turned 21 this summer.
The verdict was not gentle. It was emphatic. “He is much better than Konate was at the same age,” the Echo stated, adding that, based on what has been seen so far, Jacquet “has all the makings of a great player.”
The praise has not been isolated. This is Anfield echoed the sentiment, stressing that Jacquet’s impact goes well beyond tidy clearances and strong duels. His defending has been solid, yes, but his influence with the ball has started to reshape Liverpool’s build-up play.
He has been stepping into spaces, threading passes, and offering attacking contributions that outstrip what the midfield pairing of Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai have managed in recent weeks. That comparison says as much about Jacquet’s ambition as it does about Liverpool’s evolving structure.
On the ball, he has brought back something the team lost when Konate left: a sense of calm. Not just safe sideways passes, but controlled, deliberate choices that slow the pulse of a game when Liverpool need it most. That poise has quickly made him indispensable to the starting XI.
Liverpool signed Jacquet to help them cope with the loss of a proven defender. Already, the question is changing: how quickly does the club now build around him?
