Jacquet’s Quiet Start Says More About Liverpool’s Squad Culture Than The Transfer Itself
Jeremy Jacquet has been with the rest of the squad in Nashville for barely a month, and yet the early reporting from Liverpool’s pre-season camp tells us surprisingly little about his footballing adjustment. What it tells us plenty about is the dressing room he has walked into, and in particular the outsized role one teammate is already playing in shaping it.
The France youth international’s move from Rennes was agreed back in the winter, long before the reported £60m fee was made official this month, so there was never much doubt about the destination. What’s been less predictable is how quickly a 21 year old defender has found his footing among a group he barely knew a few weeks ago, and our sense is that the answer has very little to do with tactics.
A Mentor In Everything But Name
Jacquet’s own account of settling in is instructive. He talks about leaning on Trey Nyoni and Giovanni Leoni, both of whom know what it’s like to be the newer or younger face in a senior squad, and about regular conversations with Hugo Ekitike. But it’s the aside about Jeremie Frimpong, essentially that he can’t stop talking to him, that stands out to us. Dressing rooms don’t run on tactics boards, they run on personalities, and Frimpong appears to be supplying a large share of the energy in this one.
That matters more than it might look on the page. A full back arriving at Anfield off the back of a title win elsewhere could easily have kept his head down and let the football do the talking. Instead the early evidence, filtered through a teammate’s own words, is of someone actively pulling a new arrival into the fold. Whether that’s calculated leadership or simply Frimpong’s natural temperament almost doesn’t matter. The effect on a young defender finding his feet is the same either way.
Why Frimpong Matters More Than The Back Four
There’s an obvious footballing reason Frimpong’s standing in this squad is worth watching too. With Conor Bradley still working his way back from a serious knee injury, Iraola doesn’t have the luxury of easing his right back in gently. Frimpong is being asked to supply intensity and width from day one, and if Jacquet ends up occupying the same defensive third once minutes are handed out, the relationship between the two carries real weight beyond the dressing room banter.
Pre-season partnerships are rarely decisive on their own, but they’re where trust gets built before it’s tested competitively. If Jacquet and Frimpong are already talking constantly off the pitch, there’s a reasonable chance that translates into fewer miscommunications on it once August arrives and the games start to matter.
The Real Test Starts In August
None of this guarantees Jacquet starts the season as first choice, or that the Frimpong link amounts to anything tactically specific. Young defenders have arrived at bigger clubs before, said the right things in pre-season, and then struggled once the intensity ramped up. What’s encouraging here isn’t the language Jacquet used, it’s who he credited for making the transition easier. That’s usually a more reliable signal than anything said about shape or system.
Liverpool have leaned on senior players setting the tone for new arrivals before, and it has tended to pay off when the culture is right. If Frimpong keeps doing what he’s apparently doing with Jacquet, this £60m defender might end up adapting a lot faster than the price tag alone would suggest.