Liverpool secured a deal for Jeremy Jacquet and will spend £60m to land the young defender from France – with the fee leaving some stunned given his age and experience
Liverpool have been labelled “suckers” by World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry, who cannot believe they have spent £60million to sign Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes.
The young centre-half will head to Anfield in the summer after a deal was secured on deadline day. The Reds beat Chelsea to the signing of the 20-year-old, who has enjoyed a rapid rise with the Ligue 1 outfit.
Jacquet has made less than 60 first-team appearances but has impressed enough that Liverpool have made him their second most expensive defender of all-time – behind only Virgil van Dijk.
Liverpool will pay an initial £55m with £5m potential coming in extras but Dugarry was stunned that the Merseysiders have chosen to pay such an astronomical sum and praised Rennes for managing to negotiate a fee that high.
On the RMC radio show ‘Rothen s’enflamme’ the World Cup winner said: “This isn’t meant to offend the player, honestly, he’s not to blame at all, and we wish him all the best because he’s a good player. But when you have suckers like that… well done to Rennes. Rennes managed to find a sucker like Liverpool that was [willing to pay] €70million (£60m).”
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Liverpool have been in need of defensive reinforcements, especially at centre-half, with doubts persisting over the future of Ibrahima Konate. They have invest for the long haul in Jacquet but Dugarry insists there is “no justification” to spending those kinds of sums as Premier League clubs continue to flex their financial muscles.
“Let them continue, all these English clubs, sending tens of millions of euros,” said the Frenchman. “This isn’t just a two-tiered football situation anymore, it’s a football that’s lost its mind. Let’s stop trying to pretend there’s a justification for it. There’s no justification whatsoever.”
Jacquet wanted to remain with Rennes until the end of the season as they bid to make the top four in France, but will head to Anfield with heightened expectations, where numerous players have recently had their fees used as a stick to beat them with.
“Poor Jacquet, this transfer is going to put a lot of pressure on him,” said Dugarry. “Even him, the poor kid, who is certainly a very good player, is going to arrive with so much pressure. His performances will be viewed differently, even though he doesn’t deserve it. Those of us who know football, let’s not try to justify this amount by saying it’s because Liverpool has money or whatever. It’s meaningless!”
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