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 for an ageing Van Dijk, and 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 so far immediately shows his right-sided bias.

It also shows us how front-footed he is.

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

He does 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, so he can close down attackers out of nowhere, and he's comfortable vacating the defensive line and pushing up high, backing himself to 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 depends heavily on both the quality and style of the team a player is in.

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.

Defensive styles include 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.

The Bournemouth attacker has received the ball to his feet, as they push for an equaliser with less than a minute to go.

Normally at this time in a game, you'd see the centre-backs camped inside or at the edge of their own box, not Jacquet, not in Iraola's system.

He pushes up and forces the attacker onto the back foot.

The attacker then manages to wriggle free slightly, thinking they have space to dribble into, with Jacquet out of position.

Jacquet sticks to his task, though, and gets tight to his man again, poking the ball away and running down the clock for his side.

Van Dijk has been crucial to Liverpool's success, and as he ages, they need an aggressive, proactive central defender next to him.

So far, Jacquet has been the perfect foil for the Dutchman.

He is able to cover a large amount of space.

He does all of the work Van Dijk's legs may not want him to do anymore.

He can stick to strikers and defend wide spaces.

Jérémy Jacquet On The Ball

While Liverpool have been a work in progress so far this season in attack, Jacquet has been really impressive in his build-up play.

What has impressed me most is his passing.

He's a high-volume passer (68.85 per 90, 84th percentile for successful passes at a 90.4% success rate) but a purposeful one.

He ranks in the 90th percentile for line-breaking passes per 90, meaning he pushes his team up the pitch and gets them into attacking areas.

He also ranks in the 90th percentile for accurate long balls (4.96 per 90).

His switches of play from right centre-back to the left wing have been excellent.

Here's an example of one against Atlético Madrid.

He picks up the ball where you'd expect him to, with short options ahead of him or to his left.

Instead, he looks up and aims a long ball into the direction of Rio Ngumoha and plants it right into his path.

Ngumoha's touch is slightly off, and Marcos Llorente can put the ball out for a throw-in, but he's moved Liverpool up the pitch in an instant.

He's also just as comfortable sending it long up the line.