Jarrel Quansah shone on his full Liverpool debut as he helped his side to overcome Wolves over the weekend. The 20-year-old started in place of Ibrahim Konate, who wasn’t ready to return after missing their last two games before the international break, and he impressed with a calm and composed performance.
Jurgen Klopp was left with no choice but to play the youngster due to Konate’s absence, Virgil Van Dijk’s suspension and the fact that Joe Gomez had to be shifted to right-back to compensate for Trent Alexander-Arnold’s hamstring issue – and the pair had to ride out some intense moments in the first half from the home side.
Matheus Cunha missed a glorious opportunity in the first-half to double their lead, as Pedro Neto beat Gomez on the right before playing in a brilliant ball for the forward who got his timing wrong and fluffed his lines, but some credit has to go to Quansah for doing just enough to put the forward off before clearing.
Quansah’s overall performance showcased his ability on the ball and his physicality off it; he managed a 96% pass accuracy, 3/3 accurate long passes, five clearances, 3/4 tackles, 5/8 duels won, two interceptions and four recoveries.
His performance looks even better considering that was just his third senior appearance for the club – with his other two being small cameos off the bench against Newcastle and Aston Villa in recent times. Klopp called the performance a ‘statement’ and it’s likely he’ll be back in the side sooner rather than later after impressing the boss.
Plus, we saw Matip and Gomez really struggle last season in the same fixture, as the Reds lost out by three goals to nil during their last visit to Molineux, which also elevates Quansah’s showing.
Considering he’s been a part of every England youth side from U15-U20, the defender has certainly been earmarked for big things, but he finds himself as fifth-choice in Klopp’s current squad.
Traditionally, there haven’t been a huge number of centre-backs that have developed through Liverpool’s academy across the last two decades, but Quansah is certainly on the right track to dispel that trend.
With Van Dijk and Konate set to return, he’ll likely find himself on the periphery once again. However, the Europa League should offer some salvation, as Liverpool find themselves in a favourable group where Quansah could start and earn valuable minutes next to an experienced figure such as the Dutchman.
If no loan move occurs, which looks unlikely given Nat Phillips’ move to Celtic, he’ll likely earn plenty of minutes off the bench, in games against inferior sides in the league and in the domestic and European cups which will see him get the chance to continue to develop.
