Liverpool are getting $82 million worth of help for their back line and have reportedly pipped Chelsea to the player, but there’s a rub when it comes to 20-year-old Rennes defender Jeremy Jacquet.
Help’s not coming this month, even if Jacquet is set for a medical on Monday.
**MORE —** [Confirmed Premier League transfers, January 2026](https://www.nbcsports.com/soccer/news/premier-league-transfers-january-2026-confirmed-ins-and-outs-for-all-20-clubs)
Jacquet is set to join Liverpool in the summer, doing nothing for their current beleaguered group of backs, after the Reds agreed a deal with the Ligue 1 club on Sunday.
[According to Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13502130/jeremy-jacquet-transfer-news-liverpool-reach-verbal-agreement-to-sign-chelsea-target-in-deal-worth-up-to-lb60m), “Chelsea offered exactly the same deal as Liverpool but over the past 48 hours, when it became apparent that Mamadou Sarr would be returning to Chelsea and Josh Acheampong was staying, the player changed his mind and decided to move to Liverpool.”
Liverpool are fighting on three fronts — the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, and the FA Cup — with just two healthy senior center backs in Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate. Japanese midfielder Wataru Endo has dropped into the back line recently, and the club’s only center back on the bench for Saturday’s win over Newcastle was 19-year-old Amara Nallo.
Joe Gomez and Giovanni Leoni remain out with long-term injuries.
Who is Jeremy Jacquet? Liverpool’s reported new center back
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The 6-foot-2 center back turns 21 in July and has represented France at each age level between U17 and U21.
Jacquet joined Rennes academy at 14 and made his Ligue 1 debuts for Rennes and loan club Clermont Foot in the 2023-24 season.
He split last season between Rennes (11 more appearances) and the same loan club Clermont (18 appearances, 2 goals in Ligue 2) but is now a Ligue 1 mainstay for Rennes.
Jacquet has dialed up 1,604 minutes across 18 matches — all starts — for Rennes this season. Only goalkeeper Brice Samba has played more minutes.
He has a great range of passing as evidenced by his club-best 2.9 accurate long balls for 90 minutes and he averages a respectable 4.8 clearances and 0.8 blocks per 90 for a Rennes side sitting sixth on the table and pushing for a return to Europe (which is why the French club has insisted on keeping him for the rest of the season).
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