During Jürgen Klopp’s final season at Liverpool, talented young centre half Jarell Quansah broke into the first team picture, unexpectedly establishing himself as a player the manager could rely on and ending the year with plenty talking him up as the long-term successor to club captain Virgil van Dijk.
In year two for Quansah, Klopp departed and Arne Slot arrived. For some the change meant more opportunities. For Quansah, it meant starting the first game of the season, looking shaky, getting taken off at the half, and never fully re-earning his new manager’s trust. Now, there’s chatter the 22-year-old could depart.
In particular, there’s chatter about a move to Bayer Leverkusen, who need to replace Jonathan Tah after losing the veteran centre half to Bayern Munich. Quansah became a target for Leverkusen as Liverpool moved to complete the signing of Florian Wirtz, but by all accounts his would be separate.
That’s assuming, of course, a deal happens. Still, Sky at least think there’s a solid chance one does. We have some question marks, though, with Quansah’s homegrown, club trained status granting him value to Liverpool—or another English club—for squad-building purposes Leverkusen won’t want to pay for.
We also can’t quite get over the fact that at this time last year, every Liverpool fan thought Quansah was the long-term answer, and while it’s clear 2024-25 didn’t go to plan he remains a young, talented, and physically imposing centre half prospect. One who also holds homegrown, club trained status.
It will be interesting, then, to see what eventually comes of the Quansah chatter, which given how long we’ve been hearing it now has to be viewed in an at least plausible light, and what signing Liverpool might be intending to make to fill his place in the squad should he depart the club in the coming weeks.