Liverpool Secures £60m Defender Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes

Liverpool have won the race for one of Europe’s most coveted young defenders, completing a £60m deal for Rennes centre-back Jeremy Jacquet.

The 20-year-old passed his medical with the Premier League champions on Deadline Day in February and has signed a five-year contract, with an option for a further year. Liverpool will pay a guaranteed £55m, with another £5m tied to performance-related add-ons – a heavyweight fee for a player yet to feature in European competition.

A Choice for Anfield Over Stamford Bridge

Chelsea matched Liverpool’s offer. Same money, same structure. Jacquet chose Anfield.

For a player who has not yet played for France’s senior team or in the Champions League, that decision says plenty about how he views his development. At Liverpool, he walks straight into a defensive unit built around Virgil van Dijk, with Geovanni Leoni and Joe Gomez alongside him in the centre-back pool. This is not a quiet introduction. It is a plunge into the deep end.

Jacquet made no attempt to hide what the move means to him.

“I feel really good, the first impressions are good and I am very happy to start here,” he told Liverpool’s official website. “When I see the facilities, I can see myself there. I feel good here and I am very excited to get started.

“For me it's a big dream, it's a big club. A club like Liverpool, it's a big dream for me.”

The language is simple, but the message is clear: this is the step he has been waiting for.

From Rennes Prospect to £60m Defender

Liverpool’s recruitment team have spent recent windows tilting hard towards youth. The average age of their first-team signings across the last two windows sits under 22, and Jacquet fits that profile perfectly – raw, ambitious, and already trusted at a high level.

Rennes did not want to lose him. His emergence accelerated after the club recalled him from a loan in France’s second division, where he impressed at Clermont. Under Habib Beye this season, his performances in Ligue 1 pushed him from promising youngster to headline asset.

French football journalist Julien Laurens believes Liverpool have moved for the genuine article.

“He's the real deal,” Laurens said. “I know he's only 20, he hasn't played for France and he hasn't played in the Champions League or Europa League. He has a long way to go but he's been impressive last season, after they [Rennes] called him back from his loan in the second division, and this season, with Habib Beye.

“You can't get it wrong. He is going to be amazing.

“He reminds me of when William Saliba burst onto the scene in France with Saint-Etienne, or Wesley Fofana. It's about how much you value that potential and talent. You would pay a lot of money for someone who hasn't really proved much. It's a lot of money for such a young player.”

Liverpool have clearly decided that this is exactly the kind of risk they want to take.

Big Tools, Small Sample Size

The price tag lands Jacquet straight into the glare. He arrives with the attributes of a modern centre-back: composure on the ball, range of passing, athleticism, and strength in the air. The concern is not what he can do, but how often he has done it at the highest level.

European football analyst Kevin Hatchard underlined that contrast between talent and experience.

“He's been seen as a rising star for quite some time,” Hatchard said. “He's been a captain at numerous youth groups for France and seen as somebody who has all of the building blocks you need to be a modern centre-back.

“He's good on the ball, good passing range, athletic, great in the air - but he doesn't have a long record of top-level football.

“He had a loan at Clermont that went well. He's been playing for Rennes this season, but it shows you just how much they rate him that they really didn't want to let him go in this window.

“His coach Habib Beye said 'if we let him go this season, we'll have to downgrade our goals for the season.'”

When a club publicly links its ambitions to a 20-year-old defender, it tells you the level of responsibility he already carries. Liverpool now inherit that bet.

Fitness, Timing and the Next Step

Jacquet’s progress did hit a bump earlier this year with a shoulder injury, but Liverpool’s medical staff have signed off on his condition. He has completed a rehabilitation programme and is back in individual fitness work, with the expectation that he will be ready for the start of pre-season.

That timing matters. This is not a signing to be slowly eased in from the fringes. With a full pre-season, Jacquet can learn the defensive line, the pressing triggers, the demands of playing behind an aggressive midfield. He will not be shielded from competition either; training sessions with Van Dijk, Leoni and Gomez will quickly reveal the standards required.

For Liverpool, the move fits a clear pattern: identify elite potential before it becomes fully proven, pay heavily, and trust the environment to turn promise into dominance.

For Jacquet, the equation is more personal. He has swapped Rennes and a league he knows for a club that expects trophies and a league that punishes every mistake. The fee, the choice over Chelsea, the faith from Liverpool’s hierarchy – all of it converges now on one question.

Can a 20-year-old who has never played in Europe grow fast enough to anchor a defence chasing titles?