By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-10-10 06:39:24 | Updated at 2026-10-10 07:58:35
1 hour ago
It has been an up-and-down start to the season for Liverpool, but one huge positive has been the early form of new arrival Jérémy Jacquet. So, just how good has the French defender been?
When you get praise from Zinedine Zidane, you know you’ve made it.
Jérémy Jacquet earned his first call-up to the France national team in this latest international break, starting UEFA Nations League games against Türkiye and Italy, and impressing in both.
When asked about the impact of the 21-year-old centre-back in the draw with Italy, Zidane said: “Very good. Very, very good. Brave. He wasn’t afraid to come out a long way. Very good in the duels. He was, once again, very good. I said it four times.”
Unfortunately, Jacquet had to be left out of the return game against Italy on Monday due to what Zidane described as a “slight knock”, but he had already made a solid impression.
That call-up was merited, too. Jacquet has made an excellent start to the season with new club Liverpool, taking to the Premier League like a canard to eau.
When Liverpool signed Jacquet in January, the assumption was he would be eased in slowly.
He was lined up to join the Reds this summer in a reported £60 million deal from Rennes, but with compatriot Ibrahima Konaté leaving for Real Madrid, a gap opened up that Jacquet has gleefully stepped into.
Despite being just 21 years old and playing in France’s second tier just two seasons ago, Jacquet has slipped seamlessly into Premier League football at Anfield.
Liverpool also brought Ronald Araujo in on loan from Barcelona, but he has been deployed at right-back more often than centre-back, with Jacquet trusted by Andoni Iraola to partner Virgil van Dijk.
Jacquet suffered a shoulder injury in his first game for Rennes after confirming his summer switch to Merseyside, then also had a setback ahead of pre-season. But Iraola still backed him from the beginning, even though he was signed before the Spaniard’s own arrival. Jacquet started Liverpool’s opening game of the campaign, and though he came off early in the 2-2 draw at Newcastle United as well as in the stalemate with Nottingham Forest, it was clear he was just having his minutes managed as he got up to full fitness.
Jacquet has started all five of Liverpool’s Premier League games this season, as well as the UEFA Champions League win over Atlético Madrid.
The 1-0 win at Bournemouth last time out made it three consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League for Liverpool for the first time since September 2024, and Jacquet played a significant role in that achievement.
So, just what has made Jacquet’s first couple of months in England so impressive?
Back in January, we analysed his game to see why Liverpool were willing to fork out so much money for an inexperienced young defender. Jacquet had shown in his time in France that he was aerially dominant, composed on the ball, and a front-foot defender who could win the ball often.
He has been all that and more already for Liverpool, too.
Jacquet won 75.5% of his aerial duels in Ligue 1 last season, the most of any player to contest at least 40. He has carried that on in England, winning 10 of 13 aerials in the Premier League (76.9%), more than both Van Dijk (71.4%) and Araújo (72.0%). Only Manchester United’s Harry Maguire (17 of 22 – 77.3%) has won a greater proportion among players to have contested 13+ aerials.
He has also been outstanding in ground duels, winning 19 of 25 (76.0%). Of Premier League defenders to have contested 15+ ground duels this season, only Everton’s James Tarkowski has won a greater share (19 of 21 – 90.5%).
A metric called ‘true tackles’ can give an even better idea of his ability. It’s the sum of successful tackles (where possession is regained or when the ball goes out of play and is safe), challenges lost (where a player attempts a tackle and doesn’t connect with the ball) and fouls when attempting a tackle. Jacquet has attempted 15 true tackles in the Premier League this season, with a success rate of 73.3%; no player to have attempted as many has a higher win percentage.
His ability in possession has also made him suited to Iraola’s style of play. At Bournemouth, the Spaniard loved his centre-backs getting the ball forward with their progressive passing, and that has continued at Liverpool. Jacquet has played 57 passes into the opposition’s final third in the Premier League this season; only Van Dijk (76) and Tottenham’s Jan Paul van Hecke (62) have attempted more.
His long passing was a standout attribute in France, too, and he has completed an impressive 23 of 36 attempted long passes (a pass that travels at least 32 metres) in the Premier League, enabling Liverpool to get the ball forward quickly, just as Iraola demands.
There have already been suggestions Jacquet could be something of an upgrade on the man he replaced, Konaté, who was largely impressive in his time at Anfield, but it is difficult to stand out when your partner is one of the greatest centre-backs the game has ever seen in Van Dijk.
Konaté did have an inconsistent final season at Liverpool before moving to Madrid, and when you compare his output per 90 in 2025-26 with Jacquet’s this season, you can see why some might suggest the youngster is a more than capable replacement, even if we are dealing with considerably different sample sizes.
Jacquet is averaging 2.9 tackles per 90, greater than Konaté’s 1.9 last season, while he is also ahead in ground duel success rate (76-66%). Konaté won more aerials (3.6-2.2) but also contested more; Jacquet isn’t competing in as many presumably because he has Araújo next to him at right-back, who has contested more aerials than any other Liverpool player in the PL this season (25).
Jacquet has more than double the interceptions per 90 (1.7-0.8), while he’s ahead for progressive carries (9.3-8.2) and, as we’ve discussed, been an upgrade for passes into the final third despite Konaté himself ranked pretty highly for that anyway (as noted in the table above).
It’s early days, but Jacquet is even comparing favourably with Van Dijk for the same metrics, as you can see below. It should be mentioned regarding both comparisons, though, that Konaté and Van Dijk will have had different instructions and different roles to Jacquet, so it’s not necessarily just reflective of ability, but also style.
Jacquet has won 76.3% of his total duels in the Premier League this season (29/38), which matches Van Dijk’s highest duel success rate in any single Premier League campaign for Liverpool (in 2018-19). It would have been easy to see the Reds captain handing Jacquet his Player of the Match award after the win at Bournemouth as a bit of a passing-of-the-torch moment.
Again, these are early days. Centre-back is a position where a young player is likely to make high-profile mistakes from time to time, and more patience is usually needed than for players in almost any other position.
Jacquet has so far taken everything in his stride, though, and has probably the biggest test of his Liverpool career to date on Sunday when Premier League leaders Manchester City come to town.
Coming up against Erling Haaland might be the toughest challenge in the game today for a centre-back, but to this point, Jacquet has only provided evidence that it’s one he’s more than capable of rising to.
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