Jérémy Jacquet Scout Report At Liverpool 2026/2027: How The 21-Year-Old Became A Perfect Partner For Virgil Van Dijk - Player Analysis

Jérémy Jacquet has had an impressive start to life in the Premier League.

The French central defender officially joined Liverpool in the summer, after the Reds agreed to a €63.6m deal to bring him from Rennes last January.

He has started in every Premier League (and the one UEFA Champions League) game so far, alongside Virgil van Dijk.

Andoni Iraola's new-look side have had an up-and-down start.

They have won three and drawn three (as well as another win in the EFL Cup against Tottenham Hotspur, in which Jacquet played the full second half).

His performances have been praised by pundits such as Jamie Carragher, who pronounced that Jacquet was an upgrade on Ibrahima Konaté, who departed Merseyside for Real Madrid in the summer.

He appears to be the perfect partner to an ageing Van Dijk, as well as perfectly suited to Iraola's front-footed football.

This Jérémy Jacquet scout report and player analysis looks at Jacquet's proactive defensive style, his progressive ability on the ball and how he's helping offset some of the tactical issues this current Liverpool side have.

Jérémy Jacquet Positioning & Physicality

Jacquet has played exclusively as the right-sided central defender in Liverpool's four at the back (within Iraola's well-known 4-2-3-1).

This has been a change for the Paris-born defender, who predominantly played in a back three system in Ligue 1 last season (Rennes did change to a back four in the latter stages of the campaign, but Jacquet missed this with a back injury).

Jérémy Jacquet Heat Map 2026/2027

Jacquet's heat map for the season so far immediately shows us his right-sided bias.

It also shows us how front-footed he is.

One of the hallmarks of an Iraola team is seeing their centre-backs following their attacks even when they drop into their own half, constantly trying to pinch the ball from them in high areas.

He's able to do this well because of his physicality.

At 6'2", he cuts a lanky figure on the pitch, with long legs that can come out of nowhere and pinch the ball away from a striker who thinks they've got the ball under control.

He's also incredibly quick, meaning he can close down attackers out of nowhere, and this also means he's incredibly comfortable vacating the defensive line and pushing up high, as he backs himself to then have the recovery pace to get back into position.

At 34.6km/h, he ranks in the 92nd percentile for top speed amongst defenders.

His 7.77 sprints per 90 also show this, ranking him in the 73rd percentile.

Jérémy Jacquet Off The Ball

Naturally, the first thing we think of when it comes to defenders is what they do off the ball (although this may be less the case in the modern game).

Jacquet has been really impressive so far this season, and has kept a clean sheet in his last three competitive games (in his debut for France against Belgium and his last two games for Liverpool).

Defensive data can be hard to determine.

It's very dependent on both the quality and style of the team a player is existing within.

Players in worse or more defensive (or both) systems will have a higher volume of things like tackles and interceptions.

Then there is player style.

There are defensive styles such as that of Jacquet's partner Van Dijk, who is obviously one of the best defenders in the game, but his numbers won't pop off a page.

Now that the context is out of the way, Jacquet is still showing up really well in the data.

The Frenchman is currently putting up 2.37 tackles per 90 (89th percentile), 1.73 interceptions per 90 (89th percentile), 4.53 recoveries per 90 (90th percentile) and 0.65 clean sheets per 90 (95th percentile).

What's perhaps been most impressive is his ability to stick tight to his man, not give away a foul, and then use his long legs to take the ball away from the opponents.

Below is an example in the game at Bournemouth.