The man Liverpool are hoping will add some defensive might to their team next season, £60million summer signing Jeremy Jacquet, suffered a ‘serious’ shoulder injury during a Ligue 1 game on Saturday.
The 20-year-old fell awkwardly in the second half of a 3-1 defeat at Lens and appeared in agony as he left the pitch.
‘For Jeremy, it’s his shoulder, and for Abdelhamid (Ait Boudlal, the other Rennes player injured) it’s muscular,’ Rennes head coach Habib Beye.Beye said in his post-match interview.
‘We’ll have time to see, but it’s definitely quite serious for both of them.’
Liverpool saw off competition from Chelsea to agree a deal to sign the highly rated France Under 21 centre-back for £55million plus £5m in add-ons on July 1 on a five-year contract, with the option of a further 12 months.
‘Very pleasing, of course,’ was Reds head coach Arne Slot’s verdict on the deal.
‘He’s a very big talent and maybe even more than a talent, but we speak about talent because of his age.
‘We weren’t the only one interested in him. It’s another big compliment to the people working really hard to sign players because we were able to sign such a big talent.’
Jeremy Jacquet was in agony after suffering a shoulder injury for Rennes on Saturday evening
The centre-back, 20, was later helped off the pitch and his Ligue 1 club will assess the damage
Jacquet was subject of longstanding and significant interest from Chelsea and other major European clubs due to his status as an outstanding central defensive prospect.
Chelsea offered the same deal as Liverpool but, from their perspective, the tone of talks changed when it became apparent that Mamadou Sarr would be returning to Stamford Bridge and Josh Acheampong was staying.
Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are currently their only fit senior players in that position, with Joe Gomez and Giovanni Leoni injured.
Konate has still to agree on a new contract but talks are continuing.
As a result, the ensuing transfer negotiations for Jacquet were overseen and successfully concluded by sporting director Richard Hughes.
Liverpool will be kept informed when Rennes are sure about the extent of Saturday’s shoulder injury, but they face a nervous wait.
