Liverpool’s defensive picture has shifted quite a bit over the last few months, and the recent deal for Jérémy Jacquet feels like a turning point in how the club approach the position.
Bringing in a 20‑year‑old for a fee that could reach £60m is not the sort of move you make if you are planning another big splash at centre-back straight away, especially when he is being spoken about internally as a key piece of a long-term rebuild rather than just another body for the squad.
With Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Giovanni Leoni already on the books, Liverpool suddenly look a lot less desperate in that area than they did a couple of windows ago, which naturally cools expectations of another marquee defender arriving in the immediate future.
However, Ibrahima Konate’s situation still needs ironing out, with renewed links to Real Madrid in the last 24 hours.
One defender who has been tipped as a potential replacement for Konate is Club Brugge’s Joel Ordonez.
The Ecuadorian made the move to the Jupiler Pro League club in 2022, starting out with their reserve side. He then earned promotion to the senior team the following year.
He has impressed Premier League sides, with Crystal Palace making a reported €40m proposal in January that was ultimately rejected.
The 21-year-old defender was asked on the bid by Gazet van Antwerpen, to which Ordonez said that it “wasn’t an option”
“That could be. But I wanted to finish the season at Club anyway, so that wasn’t an option.”
He then added that he hopes to move to the Premier League in the future and named Liverpool as a club he supported growing up:
“I hope so. It would be great if I could go to the Premier League. That’s my favourite league, which, given my size, should suit me well. As a child, I was also a big Liverpool fan,” Ordonez asserted.
His current deal at the Belgian giants runs until 2029.
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