Real Madrid may very well be left wondering if they secured the right Frenchman’s signature following Jeremy Jacquet’s outstanding full senior international debut for France.
The Liverpool centre-back, who completed a deal to join the Reds in the summer for £60m from Rennes, put in a commanding performance in Les Bleus’ 1-0 win over Belgium in their Nations League clash on Monday evening.
What do the stats say about Jeremy Jacquet’s performance vs Belgium?
Across a full 90-minute display, Jacquet registered (via FotMob):
- 67/73 accurate passes
- 7 defensive contributions
- 10 passes into final third
- Dispossessed twice
- 2 headed clearances
- 4 recoveries
- 5/8 ground duels won
- 1/1 aerial duel won
- 1 foul committed
Yes, there will be tougher tests on the road than a Belgium side rebuilding after their quarter-final exit at the World Cup this summer (though we should point out the Red Devils ran out of road against eventual winners Spain).
But it’s yet another notch in the belt of a 21-year-old centre-half who is, so far, enjoying a superb first season in English football.
Real Madrid got a rawer deal than Liverpool with Ibrahima Konate exit
There’s not a world in which any Liverpool fan wouldn’t have shaken hands on keeping Ibrahima Konate and signing Jeremy Jacquet. Certainly, that had been the expectation ahead of the summer, with the Frenchman telling the press in April this year that he and Liverpool were “close to an agreement”.
What a load of nonsense that turned out to be.
At any rate, Real Madrid got their man on a free transfer swoop and Liverpool were left staring into the abyss, with a senior centre-back department that consisted of veteran centre-back Virgil van Dijk (35), the injury prone Joe Gomez (29), the incoming (and then injured) Jeremy Jacquet (21), and long-term absentee Giovanni Leoni (19). On paper, the numbers were there; in reality, Liverpool’s centre-back department had taken an almighty hit.
But fast forward to the September international break, following the loan arrival of Ronald Araujo, and the picture could not look more optimistic. Jacquet is excelling in the Premier League alongside skipper Van Dijk and our loan signing is pulling up trees playing as an auxilliary right-back. Add Leoni to the mix, once fully recovered, and Liverpool could very well be looking in excellent shape for the second half of the 2026/27 campaign.
Meanwhile in Madrid? Well, Konate has unfortunately been “diagnosed with a collateral ligament injury in his right leg”.
As for his performances this term? Well, by all accounts, the former Liverpool star has been pretty inconsistent at the back for Jose Mourinho’s men, with a particularly poor outing against Elche in La Liga.
You have to give any new signing a grace period in a new league, of course, especially when featuring for a club of Real Madrid’s calibre.
But at the present time, it doesn’t look like it’s Liverpool’s defensive department that has downgraded over the summer.
