Jeremy Jacquet has gone from summer signing to near-automatic pick at Liverpool very quickly. The 21-year-old arrived in a £60m deal and has already started every Premier League and Champions League game for the club, while logging 956 minutes, more than anyone at Anfield except Alisson.

Jacquet's workload and defensive numbers

The volume is the first thing that stands out. Jacquet's 956 minutes have come in a team that has trusted him from the start, and Liverpool have kept four clean sheets in the league with him in the side. He has also made 15 interceptions, which ranks fourth in the top flight, and 10 blocks, also fourth among Premier League defenders.

Those numbers are why the adaptation has looked so smooth. He has made 19 tackles, more than any of his Liverpool team-mates, and that activity fits the picture of a defender who is not waiting for danger to reach him.

The fee and the early verdict

Liverpool beat Chelsea to the signing after accelerating their push in January, and Jacquet arrived with just 36 Ligue 1 appearances behind him. That is a big ask for any centre-back, let alone one who cost £60m, but the early returns have been strong enough to make the fee look less risky than it did in the summer.

Virgil van Dijk has already seen the partnership develop. "Our relationship is good. It's getting better every day that we work together," he said. "It's how we react and help each other and you can see the partnership coming along. He's doing very well. Let's see where the ceiling will be. I don't think he's there yet so let's keep going."

Zinedine Zidane was equally upbeat after watching Jacquet for France. "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," he said.

Jacquet's rise has not been entirely linear because of recent injury interruptions, but Liverpool have already seen enough to keep starting him in the biggest games. The next checkpoint is whether that trust holds through the run of league and European fixtures still to come.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →