Jeremy Jacquet: Why Liverpool have agreed to pay up to £60m for Rennes' 20-year-old centre-back who plays exactly like a World Cup winner

Jacquet was born in the Paris suburb of Bondy on July 13, 2005. He wasn't even a full year old by the time Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the final of the 2006 World Cup, with France losing to Italy on penalties. But by the time Les Bleus did win the World Cup again, Jacquet had just turned 13 and was playing at local side RC Joinville.

Much has been made in France of Paris Saint-Germain's incredulous inability to scout and produce the best local talent. Jacquet was another one who got away, as he first penned amateur terms with Rennes, a top-flight club renowned for youth development, in 2019.

At the age of 18, Jacquet made a leap that saw him jump from Rennes' youth sides and right into the first-team picture, making his Ligue 1 debut in January 2024 against Nice. Days later, he was loaned out to relegation strugglers Clermont until the end of that season, but was unable to help them beat the drop. Nevertheless, it was decided that it would be beneficial for Jacquet to stay with Clermont in Ligue 2. Another loan was arranged for continuity's sake after his Team-of-the-Tournament exploits with France's Under-19s at that summer's European Championship, where they lost to Spain in the final.

The problem soon became clear that the centre-back was simply too talented to be playing in the second tier. Not only was Jacquet the lynchpin in Clermont's defence, but he was also an aerial threat and useful in build-up play. Rennes decided it was worth their while - and £780,000 ($1.05m) - to cut the loan deal short midway through 2024-25.

Jacquet started 11 of Rennes' remaining 14 Ligue 1 games, helping propel them away from a relegation battle and comfortably into mid-table with a final position of 11th.

Despite his limited appearances in a top-five league, Jacquet was heavily linked with a mega-money move in 2025. Arsenal wanted the 20-year-old as a replacement for Jakub Kiwior, though were told by Rennes he wouldn't be leaving after signing a new contract in May while the player didn't seem particularly keen on the move anyway. The Gunners would later turn to Bayer Leverkusen's Piero Hincapie.

A summer of speculation didn't derail Jacquet or affect his focus, starting every league game for Rennes this season save for two matches due to suspension. He has been capped five times by France's U21s, but there are growing calls for Didier Deschamps to give him a go in the senior side in March ahead of this summer's World Cup.

Such form meant it was unlikely that Jacquet's January would be a quiet one. In the end, his saga ran all the way to deadline day, by which point Liverpool emerged as the sole contender for his signature.

Boasting confidence and controlled aggression in considerable amounts, Jacquet has the physical and mental tools to be a top centre-back. He has excelled playing in back-three and back-four systems, starting on either side of defence and even acting as more of an old-fashioned sweeper on occasion.

Playing as one of the wider centre-backs in a back-three system has allowed Jacquet to showcase his capability to defend large spaces with his recovery pace, while he is equally comfortably starting in the middle due to his aerial prowess.

Jacquet has a knack of being in the right place at the right time, perhaps best attested to by his rank in the top 95th percentile for interceptions (1.69 per 90 minutes) among centre-halves in Europe. Part of this is down to his positioning when sitting deep, but it mostly stems from his willingness to jump onto opponents who are receiving a pass, picking their pocket at the opportune time to win possession back.

Setting Jacquet apart from other defensive prospects in France is his work on the ball. Tune in to any Rennes match and you will find him bringing out huge switches of play, direct vertical passing and dribbling right into the opposition's half.

There are two main concerns over Jacquet. The first, naturally, is how would he scale up to a league and team with much more scrutiny on them, particularly if he is being heralded as Liverpool's defensive saviour in the long term. Just because he's made Ligue 1 his playground doesn't necessarily mean he will succeed in the Premier League, and the more hype he receives, the bigger the target on his back will be.

The second is to do with his natural game. Jacquet's aggression, for the most part, is within reason and he can get away with his touch-tight tendencies. But when it goes wrong, it can spectacularly backfire. It's not uncommon for him to get spun or give up a cheap foul, and it's a skill so particularly hard to master that this might always be a weakness.

Earlier this season, Jacquet picked up his first career red card during Rennes' 5-0 defeat away at PSG. Already on a yellow card, he swiped the ankles of Goncalo Ramos, who had nipped in to cut out a loose pass at the back. This was more of a concentration issue, but in his first game back for Rennes, Jacquet picked up another booking to trigger an automatic suspension.

This might not ease Liverpool fans who are used to their defenders finishing first rather than 17th, but Jacquet's style is remarkably similar to that of Tottenham captain Cristian Romero. Listen, he won the World Cup as a key starter, so maybe this isn't all bad, eh?

Both Jacquet and Romero are uncompromisingly aggressive, for better or worse. There's no taming them if you want them to put in their best performances, and you may have to die by them in order to live by them. But when their style works, it's glorious to watch, beauty and beast in one.

Though Romero has regressed from a defensive perspective at Spurs this season, he remains crucial to the way they construct attacks. He is more than self-assured in his ability to pick a pass between the lines and backs himself to win the ball much higher than the rest of his defensive line, which Jacquet can relate to and Liverpool will be hoping can translate.

But Romero remains a Tottenham player, rather than having secured a mega-money move away, because he hasn't been able to kick his bad habits. The needless fouling, the over-excited lunges, the reckless end of the ruthless spectrum. Jacquet is still only 20 and his peak years are way ahead of him, so he has plenty of time to iron out those creases in his own game.

After completing his medical and other formalities in England, Jacquet will return to France for the rest of Rennes' season, with plenty left for them to fight for. They're eight points off a Champions League qualification spot and are still in the Coupe de France. There's every chance that Jacquet could leave the club not only as one of their most expensive exports, but a hero too.

Liverpool, meanwhile, will soldier on for the rest of the season with other options at Slot's disposal. Whether or not he's even the head coach at Anfield by the time Jacquet joins up for pre-season training remains to be seen and will be one of the main subplots on Merseyside for the second half of 2025-26.

Nevertheless, Liverpool believe they have beaten off stiff competition to sign a player who could be a cornerstone of their defence for the next decade and beyond.